


Time to be Heroes

by LonelyOnly



Series: Solve et Coagula [2]
Category: Venom (Comics), Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Angst, BDSM, Body Worship, Cannibalism, Dom/sub, Dubious Consent, Dubious Morality, Feelings, Fluff, Gore, M/M, Other, Plot, Recreational Drug Use, Sharing a Body, Smut, Tentacle Sex, Vigilantism, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:49:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 49,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24840337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LonelyOnly/pseuds/LonelyOnly
Summary: A continuation of Part 1 (Black and White) of the "Solve et Coagula" series, meant to be read in order.
Relationships: Eddie Brock & Venom Symbiote, Eddie Brock/Venom Symbiote
Series: Solve et Coagula [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1773526
Comments: 21
Kudos: 87





	1. Time to be Heroes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a continuation of Part 1 (Black and White) of the "Solve et Coagula" series, meant to be read in order.
> 
> Please read Part 1 first if you haven't yet: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24539230

*** EDDIE ***

A ray of the morning sun beamed in through the bedroom window, straight at Eddie’s closed eyes, causing him to scrunch his face, and bury it in his pillow.

_Ughh… Hard to sleep in like that._

He rubbed at his eyes, slowly sitting up, wearing just his boxers. A long, silky black snake attached to the sole of his foot, was stretching out of the room, disappearing into the kitchen. A powerful yawn overtook him as he outstretched his arms, and opened his sharky jaws so wide it sounded a satisfying ‘crack’.

He playfully kicked his foot high up into the air, and as it fell back down on the springy mattress, the wave continued travelling along the length of his alien snake.

CRASH!

**“EDDIE!”** , his alien other yelled from the kitchen.

“Uhh… did you- did you break a dish or something, bud?”, Eddie called out.

**“Why did you do that?!?”**

“Uhmm…”

The snake retracted quickly back into his foot, and then jumped out from his abdomen onto the bed in front as a pudgy, black pitbull with angry white crescent eyes. Its serpentine tail remained attached to Eddie’s bare navel like an umbilical cord. His other snarled at him with fangs, but Eddie wasn’t afraid.

**“Eddie. You will clean up the mess in the kitchen.”**

“Wha- why me? I wasn’t even _in_ the kitchen! I just woke-”

**“We were making Belgian waffles. But then your sudden unexpected movement caused us to the drop the entire plate, spoiling all of our efforts.”**

“Where’s your ninja reflexes, dude? Sounds like the failure is _yours_ , not mine.”

**“This is non-negotiable”** , the little pitbull snarled, dark pudgy cheeks flopping with each syllable, **“Do not make us ask again.”**

“Ok, I know you’re trying to look intimidating, babe, but when you’re annoyed, it’s just too cute”, he teased, swinging his legs over to touch his bare feet on the dusty wooden floor. They hadn’t vacuumed in a while.

**“‘Cute’? What did we say about that word, Eddie?”**

“It’s a term of endearment, love”, he smiled innocently with his signature toothy grin.

**“Don’t like it”** , his pitbull grumbled, looking down, off to the side.

“It’s true. You’re the cutest doggo. It’s a compliment.”

**“You are adding insult to injury, human. Considering that we are already angry, we advise you that it is not a wise course of action.”**

Empty threats. Venom would never hurt him, not really. He reached over to pet his alien doggie on the head, but when the damn thing actually bared its fangs, vocalizing a guttural snarl, he instinctively snatched it back.

“Uhh… good… doggie?”, he placated nervously, wrapping his other hand around the cord at his navel, as if to keep his other on his leash.

**“Not a pet, either. Now follow us.”**

Sighing, Eddie stood up, and followed his pitbull into the kitchen.

Amongst the waffles and many shards of broken plate on the floor, were splatterings of maple syrup, icing, and tons of chocolate sauce. Now that’s a clean-up job.

“Bro… you could clean this up in, like, two seconds, yourself.”

**“It would take longer than two seconds. But regardless, since this is your fault, it only makes sense that you take responsibility.”**

Eddie rolled his eyes, putting his hands up behind his head, and he stretched his spine upwards and back with a deep inhale.

“C’mon, babe, you never make me do this kind of thing…”

**“Perhaps we’ve been spoiling you too much, Eddie”** , the pitbull spoke, walking wide circles around the kitchen mess, still attached at the tail via the umbilical leash.

“Yeah, and I appreciate you for-”

**“Eddie. You barely do any chores yourself. We feed you. We cook for you. We clean for you. We dress you. We keep you healthy. We wash your dishes. We wash you. We give you massages.** **We cheer you up when you’re down. We please you sexually whenever you want us to.”**

“Ehh… our arrangement is fair, I think. I mean, you get to live in my _apartment_ , _and_ my body, without paying rent. In exchange-”

**“We even saved your life that one time.”**

Eddie winced, “Ouch. You had to go there…”

**“Eddie. You did not understand us the first time. We said this is non-negotiable.”**

The alien pitbull was sniffing and licking some of the chocolate sauce off the floor. Why couldn’t he just keep doing that?

“Pffft… I’m not taking orders from my alien p-”, he stopped mid-word.

_-arasite_ , finished the thought.

He didn’t say that out loud.

The demon pitbull raised its head.

**“What was that?”**

“…pet. Alien pet. Th- that’s… what I was gonna say”, he gulped hard, unconsciously gripping tight the leash at his navel.

The cord slipped out of Eddie’s grip, sliding up to his neck, and wrapped around like a tight collar. It tugged roughly, pulling him down to the dusty wooden floor onto his hands and knees.

_Uh oh._

**“For the next sixty minutes, you will be a dog, Eddie. Understand?”**

“Wait what the fu-? Okay, okay, I’m sorry! I’ll- I’ll clean-”

The cord slipped around behind to his nape, and he felt it tug at his collar, tilting his head up from the floor. He turned his neck, eyes following his leash, and saw that it terminated in a closed grip. That dark hand was attached to Venom’s full bulking humanoid form, kneeling behind him. His demented face, two crescents and a face-splitting grimace stared back. There was something huge and black swinging between his muscled thighs.

_Oh shit._

**“Too late for that,** **_pet_. It’s time you learned your place.”**

He was already getting hard. This was part of their game. Eddie would piss him off, and Venom would make him pay. It had to be clear who was really in charge, after all. Who was top dog, and who bottom dog? In truth, if he said the magic words, the game would be over, just like that. 

Heck, Venom might even do the cleanup afterwards too.

On second thought, for this one, maybe not.

“Yes, Venom”, Eddie submitted.

**“Dogs don’t talk.”**

“Uhh… Woof?”

The large hand not holding the leash patted him on his hair.

**“Good boy.”**

Then he felt knives rake down his ass cheeks, and he yelled, “Oww, fuck!”

His boxers had been shredded and tossed aside, exposing his straining erection to the breeze of the air conditioner. The collar tightened, making it a bit harder to breathe.

WHIP! A tentacle had lashed across his ass, stinging his cheeks. WHIP! A second time.

_Ow._

**“Listen up,** **_pet_. You will receive two lashes for every time you make a noise that a dog wouldn’t make. Now would you please be so kind, mutt, as to demonstrate for us, what sound a dog doth make?”**

“WOOF, WOOF!”

A hand patted his head again, and he was rewarded with, 

**“Good boy.”**

“GRRRRRRR…”, he growled low, getting into it.

Venom intoned a deep, mocking chortle.

**“If you’re a dog, you should have a tail, no? What do you think, pet?”**

“Ruff, ruff…?”

Good. Still in character.

He felt the warm tentacle-cock slide in through his rectum, ignoring his muscular resistance, and it expanded to fill him from the inside. He barked in pain from the sudden intrusion, and then he barked in pleasure.

Vaguely, he sensed his secondary alien nervous system grow two tentacles, reaching back into the bedroom to retrieve the whole goddamned full-length bedroom mirror, and place it gently against a wall to the side. Venom was inhumanly strong, and he was feeling the full brunt of that strength directed at his rectum. The leash pulled at his head to face his own reflection.

**“We want you to watch,** **_pet_ , as we fuck you like the dog you are. How do you like your new tail?”**

His ass was arched up into the air, and Venom was slamming into him with his tentacle-cock, sliding in and pulling out, sliding in and pulling out, relentless. All the while, Mr. Large And In Charge pulled on the leash, tugging back on his suffocating collar. As his rectum was stretched, his insides felt dangerously full. The hard wooden floor made his knees ache slightly as the motion rocked him forward and back.

At the current moment, he was not Eddie Brock, and he did not have a life. He was nothing more than a horny animal to be used and abused by his alien owner. Over his mouth, a black gooey cage-muzzle formed.

“ARFF, ARFF, ARFF!”, into his muzzle he barked.

Venom patted his hair again, saying, **“Good boy”** , while continuing to thrust his tentacle-cock into his rear at a steady cadence, pumping his juicy prostate inside.

“AWOOOOOO!”, he howled like a wolf in heat.

Eddie felt so stupid making these animal noises, but it was totally turning him on. In the reflection, there was a stringy thread of precum leaking from his boner, still untouched. It pooled on the floor with the dust. When was the last time they vacuumed? He’d have to ask Venom to do some vacuuming later.

The alien cock in his ass started throbbing and rotating unnaturally, pressing against his prostate. His own cock twitched, and more clear liquid streamed onto the floor, and he started panting with his tongue hanging down past his chin. Drool dripped down along its length.

**“Any mess you make on the floor, you will clean up afterwards, in addition to the other mess you made. You will also vacuum. The apartment is dusty. We did it last time, so now it’s your turn. Is that clear, pet?”**

“Oh, c’mon V!”

WHIP! His left ass cheek stung. Venom did not go easy.

_Oww..._

WHIP! The right one too.

Eddie, the beaten dog, whimpered into his muzzle, as some tears formed in his eyes.

**“We will ask again, pet. Is that clear?”**

“WOOF, WOOF!”, Eddie submitted in dog language.

Later, as his alien owner ruthlessly went to town on his behind, plowing into his gaping hole without mercy, Eddie’s canine vocalizations deteriorated from their earlier crisp quality, to a surprisingly accurate imitation of the whining of a dying puppy. 

The anal assault lasted precisely sixty minutes, just as the alien had promised.  He also had to do clean-up afterwards, and Venom didn’t even let him finish.

Indeed, it had to be clear who was in charge.

*

The interior of the RV was quite cramped. It didn’t seem large enough to comfortably live in as one person, let alone two plus a large dog. The tiny chair they were sitting on was threatening to collapse under their massive combined weight. 

Eddie took a sip from his mason jar, and the hot tea slightly burnt his tongue, but his alien bodymate quickly healed it. On his shoulder was a black gooey winged cupid, with the blackened skull head of a ram. It stuck its long tongue into the jar, tasting the tea.

**Dead plant matter** , the ram-cupid mentated telepathically, **No nutritional value.**

Eddie wasn’t claustrophobic, but maybe he would be if he was forced to live in a place like this for long enough. He hadn’t bothered to upgrade to a larger apartment for the two of them, even though he probably could with the money he had saved up. They didn’t really need the extra space. This, though, was a bit too small for his and his alien lover’s comfort, especially with the kinds of, _ahem_ , ‘activities’ they got up to.

He peered out at a narrow gap in the duct tape that covered the small window. Outside, there were the un-gentrified graffitied brick walls of the urban ghetto, old houses with un-mowed lawns, cut off from cracked sidewalks by very climbable chain-linked fences.

It was rather dark in here. If it were not for Eddie visiting, it would’ve been even darker. The small lamp hanging on the wall, run on solar power, had been turned on just for him. His calf was being repeatedly slapped by the wagging tail of the Golden Retriever lying down near his foot, facing away from him. Poor thing. It was really cramped in here.

**Woof, Woof.**

Eddie cleared his throat audibly, slightly blushing. The interior of his rectum was still sore from the earlier pound-town his alien overlord had visited upon him. Venom could’ve healed the injury easily, but this was his way of marking his territory, to serve as a reminder of who Eddie belonged to. It was really, really awkward feeling this while in her presence.

Wearing her knitted pink and violet striped sweater, Jane Filippi took a seat at the other side of the tiny table, really more of a big stool, setting her mason jar down on it, with the same tea. She smiled at him, unaware of the demonic ram-headed cupid on his shoulder. Her eyes looked at nothing in particular, but they were still slightly wet. Who knew blind eyes could cry?

Eddie asked her, “Do you know where she might have went? Who she might have talked to?”

She replied, “I appreciate your concern, Eddie. But if the police can’t even do anything-”

“Did they even try?”

“They… well, no. No, that Officer Zhuang, he said it’s only been a day. Too soon…”

“Tell me, then.”

Earlier in the morning, Jane had called Eddie, letting him know there was another performance at the Music Pavilion. She didn’t have a phone herself, but she used a payphone. They found her sitting there at the same bench listening to the classical orchestra, but she had not seemed to be jamming to the music.

They eventually learned that her sixteen-year old daughter Abigail did not return home the previous night, and she still hasn’t turned up yet. Abigail _did_ have a phone, but when Jane had tried to reach her via pay phones, she never picked up. Apparently, that was not normal. He had walked her back to her RV, in the ghetto district.

“Eddie, this is not your problem. I called you just for some emotional comfort. Selfish of me, I know. I don’t want you to get hurt by-”

“I won’t. I just wanna know. I’m a good listener.”

**Oh, please** , the ram-cupid sneered, flapping its little wings.

“Err… sometimes…”, he corrected.

Jane sighed, “Abigail had mentioned this… guy… Gonzo. He sounded like a bit of a creep. I don’t know, she said he tried to hit on her at the bar where she worked, and he got aggressive when she told him not to touch her. He was a regular there. She was working last night.”

“What’s he look like?”

“Well, I’ve never seen him. Heh, duh! But she’s described him with long black hair, slicked back. Tall? Muscular? He’s latino. Piercing on his nose, and all over his right ear. Tends to wear dress shirts, and blue jeans?”

“And where did Abigail work?”

“Eddie, this is not your problem. I could not live with myself if someone else got hurt by this.”

“I won’t do anything dangerous! But I’m a journalist. Maybe I could learn something that you could take to the cops?”

“No offense, Eddie, but I doubt there’s anything you could do. I just have to wait a day and ask the cops again”, she sighed, “But she worked at Little Darlings.”

“A- A stripclub? Jesus, isn’t she sixteen?”

“Yes. I don’t know how she managed to get work there. They pay her cash. I wish it were different, but she says she does what she has to do. I knew it would attract the wrong kinds of attention! I shouldn’t have let her.”

“Yikes. I guess that’s why you didn’t want to mention it last time…”

She made the briefest smile with her smiling eyes, and then frowned. The cupid on his shoulder appeared to be melting from the stuffy heat of the RV.

“Before she left, we had gotten into a pretty heated argument”, she said, “I told her she needed to quit her job, and she took it as an offense… She thought I didn’t appreciate the sacrifice she was making for us… the sacrifices she has made for _me_.”

“You don’t think she ran-?”

“Ran away? Oh, no. Never. She wouldn’t do that. _That’s_ what has me worried.”

“I’m sure she’ll turn up soon enough. Maybe she just needs some time to herself away from her overprotective mother? I’ve been there…”

“Ha! _Overprotective mother?_ ”, she chuckled, “Who could I protect?”, she said, waving her hand in front of her face.

The ram-headed cupid on his shoulder studied her curiously, but remained silent. Eddie knew what he was thinking.

After they chatted for a while longer, he thanked her for the tea, and stepped out of the cramped RV into the afternoon street, his other receding to nestle his weight within Eddie’s chest. He walked along the cracked sidewalk that had weeds growing in them.

**Time to be heroes, Eddie?**

“You’re damn right, V.”

*

Deafening electronic music was thumping, as a spinning disco ball decorated the pink walls of the club, and the women on stage in sparkles. Some were half-clothed, and some were not-clothed.

Eddie had ordered a beer, and was sipping it slowly at a table near the back. The alcohol was barely felt. Under his ribcage, he felt his liver tingle as his other helped with filtering the recreational poison out of his system. 

He was wearing sunglasses and business casual to fit in. His ears were plugged with very efficient alien ear buds, more like ear wax, because the loud, obnoxious music was driving them both crazy.

It suddenly occurred to him that he had been staring at one model’s bouncing breasts, as she danced her way up and down the pole. He was starting to get aroused.

_Shit, they could be underaged here. I shouldn’t look…_

He hadn’t taught his other about that particular rule yet, so the symbiote had started wrapping a tendril around his penis underneath his clothing to mimic a striped candy-cane.

“Wo- Woah! Not here, love.”

**Really? This is the most appropriate place for it.**

“It’s not what we’re here for…”

Their target was seated right next to the stage, flirting with one of the other strippers. Just like Jane said, he had slicked back hair, and piercings all over the right ear. He wore blue jeans, and a dark red dress shirt, which his symbiote noticed as the color of blood.

**At least the shirt won’t get stained** , the killer alien sniggered.

Eddie tried to keep tabs on the man, but his eyes just couldn’t help repeatedly being drawn to the boobs. He’s just a guy, what can he do?

His breath hitched in his throat when the tendril slid into the slit of his pee-hole, and his cock began to swell.

“Unghh…”, he moaned quietly to himself, but then shook it off, “Venom, stop. I need to keep track of that guy.”

**We haven’t taken control of your eyeballs, Eddie. You may look wherever you want.**

The candy-cane striped tendril stroked his foreskin up and down, as its end continued to slip further into his urethra, making it feel a bit more thick from the inside.

“Please, babe. We can’t do this here.”

**We haven’t heard the magic word, yet. And we’ve done worse.**

“The safe word thing only applies in an _official_ play session. We’re in public.”

**Official, huh? We could get Anne to write up a contract.**

The mention of her name caused his candy-cane cock to twitch.

Eventually, their suspect paid his bill, stood up, and made his way toward the exit. The tendril tightened around Eddie’s cock and started stroking him even faster.

“Okay, okay! New York! Goddamn.”

The stroking ceased and the tendril dissolved back into his body.

**As you wish, master.**

They had a strange dynamic where it was not always clear who was really in charge. Who was the master, and who the servant?

Ah, who was he kidding. Although the symbiote was the hitch-hiker in his body, it was Venom who was in the driver’s seat, and he was just along for the ride.

**Now for the real fun.**

Eddie paid his bill, without waiting for change, and tracked down their victim outside by flicking his tongue like a snake, tasting his scent, a skill that came with being joined to a predatory alien.

The man had wandered into a dark alley behind the building, and they could taste his urine, which was a strangely intimate thing to know about a stranger. There was the dribbling, splish-splash sound of liquid streaming against brick wall.

**Oh, morsel, you make this too easy.**

They entered the alley, stepping out of the streetlight, and his alien bodymate wrapped himself all over Eddie. The feeling of his body being touched everywhere all at once brought him back to hardness again. Eddie had never thought of their transformation in a sexual way before, but that was back when he was an idiot. Now though, there was no denying that their full union as  ‘We’  was inherently sexual.

The man, oblivious, was fumbling with his phone in his right hand, and his dribbling dick with the left. Something shiny glimmered near his penis, but he finished and zipped himself back up. He was still mesmerized by his phone.

_They_ walked forward as a massive seven-and-a-half foot black, bulking demon towards their prey. Only when their shadow covered his phone screen did he finally turn to look at _Them_.

**“Peek-A-Boo.”**

“Ahhh! _Qué demonios_! What the fuck! What the fu-!”

He dropped his phone on the floor, and Venom gagged him with a tentacle. They dragged him deeper into the darkness of the alley. Eddie felt so powerful when they were ‘We’. It would be so easy to abuse this power, to just _kill_ as he pleased. He needed to keep himself in check, and separate himself enough from his other so that they would fall on the right side of the fence of justice.

**“We’re going to ask you once, Gonzo. Answer truthfully, and we might let you live. Where is Abigail?”**

They un-gagged him, and he stuttered,

“Fu- Fuck! What the fucking fuck are you?!”

**“We’ll be asking the questions here.”**

Venom traced their sharp nail across his cheek, drawing blood. The man almost screamed, but it was muffled by another tentacle gag. _They_ put their bloodied finger near their lips, revealing their nightmare teeth, and with their merged singular tongue, licked the blood. 

Eddie couldn’t help but admit that the metallic tang was tasty, and he wanted more. He felt his hard cock lurch within his gooey alien suit in response to Venom’s gourmet pleasure. His hips instinctively tilted forward in an attempt to generate friction, but frustratingly the second skin matched the motion, and it was like humping air. Anyway, this really wasn’t the time for that.

**“Mmmm… your blood is delicious, Gonzo. Answer the question: Where is Abigail? Otherwise, you’re about to be** **_gone_** **, so… Muahahaha.”**

_Always with the puns..._

After the gag was released, he said, “Oh sweet baby Jesus, please don’t eat me! Look, I swear, I don’t know! She- they took her. The- the Wah Ching.”

**“Where can we find her? If you lie, we will know immediately, and we will eat you.”**

“Oh god… please, no! You can read minds too? I really don’t know where she is! I just handed her off to a guy they call Firefly. Oh shit, I shouldn’t have said that. He’s going to kill me! He’ll know!”

**“You** **_handed her off_? Oh, my dear friend, he’s not the one you should be afraid of.”**

His pierced face had gone white with terror, and Eddie could swear the man’s sweat gave off a smell that had a color. It was purple.

**“How do we find this ‘Firefly’?”**

“He, he’s one of the uppers in the Wah Ching. And he’s a fuckin’ psycho! I don’t know any more than that. Please don’t eat me, fuck!”

**“We’re going to eat this morsel… Any objections?”**

“Wha- Nooo!”, he screamed until they covered his mouth with their giant hand.

Eddie did not offer any resistance, but he didn’t say ‘Yes’ either.

_He might hurt others…_ , his thoughts contemplated.

Gonzo reached into the front of his underwear and pulled out a tiny revolver. They snatched it out of his hand and crushed it.

**“We’ll take that as permission. Good night, Gonzo.”**

They opened their nightmare jaw, wicked tongue already salivating with the promise of brains, but then, suddenly, they were bathed in artificial white light. A woman screamed off to the side. It was one of the strippers, now dressed, shining her phone flashlight into the alley. She was standing over the man’s dropped phone.

There was the sudden loud tearing of a dress shirt, and they turned to notice Gonzo running off in the other direction, panting. The woman raised her phone, aiming the camera, but they jumped up, quickly scaled the wall onto the roof, and fled the scene.

*

Soft white moonlight from outside intersected with the artificial harsh yellow of their ceiling lights. Eddie paced around his living room nervously in his boxers, holding a bag of cheetos. His bodymate, currently a black frog sitting on his head, was trying to soothe him internally. Vibrations rippled across his body in the manner of one of those overpriced massage chairs, as he continued to pace. Venom could be real sweet when he needed to be. The frog lashed its tongue out at the cheeto in Eddie’s hand, snatching it into its mouth.

He pondered, “Shit, shit, shit. Okay, so at least we learned something. Wah Ching. That’s a lead. It’s something.”

Taking out his phone, he called up his old associate, ex-Officer Harbinder Singh, now retired from the force, about any open cases on the Wah Ching, and after much sweet-talking, learned from him that they were involved in drug trafficking, particularly opiates. There were also some rumors about human trafficking, but there was nothing conclusive.

More peculiar though, was that several undercover cops had tried to infiltrate, but each was reported missing within a day, and no trace of them was ever found, so they eventually just gave up. Eddie thanked his old partner for his trouble.

He pondered for a moment, wondering what this could mean. A light-bulb went off in sudden epiphany when his thoughts came upon the conversation he had weeks ago with Dr. Skirth.

“Mind-reading! That’s how they were found out… that dickwad mentioned something like that. But why was no trace of them found?”

**“When we eat, when we bother to eat the whole body, Eddie, the person is never found.”**

“Oh! So their bodies were destroyed? How though…”, and then his face went cold when it dawned on him, “They were burnt to a crisp.”

_Mind-reading. Fire. Shit._

**“Is this related to what Dr. Skirth talked about?”**

“It might be… and if it is… this thing just got a whole lot more complicated. Fuck… and if they have Abigail, we have to act fast. The douchebag mentioned ‘Firefly’… could he be the one who stole that PsiClops thing? Dang. I didn’t want to get involved in all that.”

**“Let’s do it, Eddie. We can be heroes, like you said. For Jane. For Maria. We took on PsiOnyx, even though they had sonic weaponry. We will eat this Firefly, like a frog catches flies.”**

The venomous frog’s tongue whipped the apartment air, which was slightly less dusty now that he had vacuumed.

Eddie buried his face in his hands. Then, as a reflex to distract himself, he checked his phone again. There was a message from Anne. It read,

“friday dinner, us 4? missed u 2 <3”

Reluctantly, he typed out, 

“sorry, busy. will let you know when free.”

After he sent it, he went to the cupboard to grab a bar of dark chocolate. He ripped the wrapper with his fangs, and then just started biting into it, devouring it. It helped calm him down. Chocolate smeared his face, and his head-frog licked it off.

The frog dissolved, and then makeshift ribs protruded from his spine, clamping around his torso in a bear hug, which helped to further ground him in his own body. The feeling was nice.

Another nice feeling came when he felt his boxers pulled down to his ankles, followed by a wet tongue sliding up his inner thigh and forming a tight curl around the perimeter of his sphincter. Eddie gasped as it licked circles around his sensitive ring, causing his flaccid penis to twitch.

He looked down to where he felt his other protruding from his calf. Appropriately, he was now shaped as the shit-eating, whiskered catfish, with crescent white eyes, and a strangely long tongue.

**“Lay on your stomach. We will eat you out.”**

“Okay”, he obeyed, laying down on the lumpy couch, while the tongue continued to slither over his puckered hole.

Standing was becoming difficult anyway.

**“Relax your sphincter. You are very tensed.”**

He relaxed, and the tip of the tongue pushed in slightly, but not far. His cock was beginning to fill up underneath him, but it wasn’t in need of attention yet. For now, he could just enjoy the sensations coming from his rear, like how one might enjoy a massage, letting his other take care of him with that slippery tongue of his. His rectum was still slightly sore from earlier, but it seemed like his other had bothered to heal it, and actually the refreshing tongue gave wet relief. That ridiculous, dirty tongue was just utterly obscene.

Venom had started taking on more definite animal forms lately during their love making sessions. Eddie hadn’t been comfortable with it at first, preferring either his symbiote’s amorphous blobby or humanoid forms. After a while though, he realized that it was all just Venom anyway.

**“Have no fear, Eddie”** , the catfish said, **“We can be heroes. Together we are unstoppable. Just relax, first.”**

Eddie surrendered to his caretaker and his wicked tongue, making some quiet moans as it cleaned out his asshole. He didn’t need to make sounds, but he liked to let Venom know that he was enjoying it, even though his other felt it already through their bond. They wouldn’t have anymore time for this once they got down to the real hero business.

After a while of soothing foreplay, Venom had him flip over so that he could ‘suck the cum’ out of his aching blue balls. He was still shaped like a catfish. Eddie was about to get a blowjob from a catfish. A shit-eating catfish that just cleaned his dirty, un-showered asshole. It even had whiskers. This whole thing was dirty in both senses of the word. Yet when the black fish took his hardness into his mouth, it felt just like what Venom’s mouth always felt like: amazing.

“So much for ‘relaxation’, huh?”

**“Are you complaining?”**

“N- No… keep going. Please.”

**“As you wish, master.”**

He loved it when Venom called him that. Perhaps more so because it was clear who was really in charge. His heart began racing with the promise of release. Eddie knew his symbiote wasn’t just going to leave him hanging like that after that tease and denial from the morning. Yes, the alien could be real sweet when he needed to be.

“ _Unghh_ … oh yeah, V, hell yeah. Just like that. I love your dirty, alien mouth.”

The hungry predator started sucking more ferociously, as his tendril whiskers extended, tracing along his abdominal tattoos, and then playfully flicking over his sensitive nipples. It wouldn’t take much more. The inevitable climax was fast approaching. He needed to get off badly, and his other was ravenously hungry for his man juice. This was just the standard fare.

“Oh, babe… yes! Yes!”, he moaned, “ _Be one with me again_.”

**Give yourself to us, Eddie, don’t hold back** , his other whispered seductively into every corner of his mind.

_V, what are you doing to me?_

If he was being mind-controlled, or trained like a dog, by his alien symbiote, he didn’t care. He would give himself to Venom. At the very least, his body was going to give away his cum to the hungry alien, whether he wanted to or not.

And then it came.

As he climaxed, feeding the hungry catfish, he called out his other’s name: 

“VENOM!”

**Eddie** , his other echoed in his mind.

When they were done, his catfish came up to kiss him, feeding him his own unborn children. His own taste was sweet and salty.

**“You always taste so good, master.”**

The sugar-coated love that flooded him from their bond was so pure and sweet that it was tooth-rotting.

“I love you, Venom”, he said, petting his other, who was now a cute black puppy.

**“We love you too, Eddie”** , his bodymate replied, purring with glee.

After that, they cuddled for a while, and their drooling doggy tongues continued getting lickety-lost in the combined echo chamber of their mouths. This was the calm before the storm.

Loud rock music started blaring. It was coming from his next-door neighbor’s room. Ziggy.

“That’s the third time this month. The guy’s getting bold again.”

It wasn’t terribly loud, certainly not like before, but it was still audible. And since when did his dickwad neighbor listen to bands with female lead vocalists?

“You okay, V?”

**“Yes, Eddie. The song is… not terrible.”**

“It doesn’t bother you? Huh. Well, I don’t like it. It means we didn't send a loud enough message the first time.”

**“Shall we go give him another scare?”**

“Yeah, let’s-”

Bleep, bleep. That was his phone on the coffee table. Eddie pushed against the lumpy couch, rolling onto his side, and pushing himself up. A swift tendril retrieved the phone, handing it to him. There was a new email.

The address was not one he recognized, but the subject line read,

“I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE.”

_Who. The. Fuck?_

He opened it, and all it said was,

“Tony’s Pizza Napoletana. 10am tomorrow.”

That got his heart racing again. He just stared at his phone in disbelief, mouth ajar, hand trembling.

**“Whoever that is, Eddie, we will eat them.”**

“This is bad, Venom. This is _really_ bad.”

***


	2. Problematic Probabilities

*** VENOM ***

Dust caught the glint of light, staining the full-length bedroom mirror. Still, it was clear enough to see the human’s reflected nude form seated before it. They watched as Eddie wrapped his own hand around his soft penis and began stroking.

**“We could help you with that.”**

Their biomass materialized and restructured itself to mimic their host’s humanoid figure. That’s when they realized they were not staring into their reflection through their host’s eyes. They were watching Eddie masturbating himself from the other side of the mirror.

Reaching out, they touched transparent glass. Looking down, they saw their own shadowy muscled form. On the glass was a curious cylinder deadbolt lock, with a keyhole shaped like a butterfly. They tried to cross the dusty invisible wall, but it did not let them through.

Turning around, they faced a lush, well-tended garden. A large tree whose bark was black sheltered fluttering butterflies of every color amongst its leaves. 

They knew by intuition that each one represented a simulated future potential, though it was not clear how they knew this. Did one need to know how one knew? Or did one just know? The universe they woke up in would be decided by subtle probability-wiggles playing out in this elastic-possibility dream-incubator.

One of the critters in particular shined brighter than the rest. She was a rich green color, deeper even than the leaves.

**That’s the one.**

Intuitively, they vibrated their biomass, singing in a tone meant for insect listeners. The hivemind danced, and the members changed their flight patterns. The one with deep green wings flew towards them. A second one, pink, followed along, and both whooshed past, straight through the mirror into the bedroom, circling the domesticated primate who was stuck in the act of furiously pleasuring himself.

Singing was a skill some of the Klyntar used to lure certain susceptible hosts, so this usage of probability-manipulation was not typical. Their song had been slightly off-tempo. Venom had been fortunate enough to acquire this skill during their time in the star system controlled by the Kt’Zr’Kt’Rtl, pronounceable only by the twitchy clicks of insectoid pincers, wings, and hind-legs.

The deep green one flew back towards their side of the mirror, and they watched it fly up into the sun. Back inside the framed bedroom, the pink one landed on Eddie’s testicles. At that moment, he moaned the name “Venom!”, as his penis ejaculated forcefully, but the seminal fluid was not white, but pure black.

The symbiote reached out, and the pink butterfly returned to their side of the mirror, landing on their hand. The glass shattered, and on the other side of the frame was just more garden, except the grass was on fire. They ran through the open doorway which used to be a mirror but they were still in the garden, and everything was burning. There was no way back.

**Time to wake up.**

The physical layer snapped into lucid focus, and they awoke 4.5 seconds before their host, enough time to reach tendrils to check the phone on the bedside table.

The human blinked his eyes open.

“Did I- did I cream myself again?”

**“No, Eddie, there was no emission.”**

“Oh shit… what time is it?”, the human asked, sitting up.

**“Twenty until 10. We have to leave.”**

Eddie scrambled out of bed, and tentacular protrusions were already retrieving a clean t-shirt, hoodie, and jeans from the dresser.

“Weren’t you watching the time?”

**“Sorry. We were pre-occupied by your dream”** , they said as they helped dress the human, **“Sometimes they yield useful information.”**

“I already told you… they don’t mean anything. Damnit we gotta go!”

They snatched the keys and wallet off the bedside table with tendrils, and hurried out of the apartment.

*

The sunny streets of Little Italy were bustling with restaurants, stores, and the rushed morning crowd. Threads of clashing store music and billowing aromas of Italian cuisine weaved throughout the humid air. With their human’s tongue, they could taste those scents, dominated by herby cheeses and saucy tomatoes, coagulating into such specifics as pasta, risotto, lasagna, and the savoury Fiorentina steak. The gustatory attunement triggered the salivary glands in their host’s tongue, reminding them of their ever-present gnawing hunger, but it was not the main thing on their mind.

A strand of pop music from a nearby store cut through the sensory tapestry as they walked past it, and that datum was factored into the ongoing quantum computation. The female voice was singing,

“…I’m your biggest fan, I’ll follow you until you love me. Papa-papa-razzi…”

The symbiote had come to learn that some things really were black and white, with clear-cut rules. Even something as complex as the social negotiation between two independent mind-systems could be modelled like a sort of N-dimensional chess game, solvable in polynomial time within their mental mansion of quantum logic gates. It’s why they had gotten so good at getting Eddie to do what they wanted, without needing to affect his physical brain directly. So long as they could account for 99.94% of outcome branches within a deviation margin of error below 0.4%, and maintained a reaction interval within 0.07 seconds, mental congruence, and hence, optimal symbiosis, of at least 95% was assured. Even Anne did not possess that much influence over their precious Eddie.

A few busy blocks later, they stopped in front of Tony’s Pizza Napoletana, the battleground-to-be. Outdoor tables had been arranged both around the entrance, and also across the walkway near a raised flowerbed. A hundred slippery conversational strands all around gave way to another thousand, as information exchange occurred at the macro-social level through the medium of words and mouth noises.

_Of course they’d want to meet in a crowded place like this_ , Eddie thought, _Do you see anyone, V?_

**Still looking.**

Swimming in their host’s retinas, they scanned the sea of faces for a facial match with the pattern of ‘Bad Person’.

The cry of seagulls was heard overheard, and some landed on the stone tiles scavenging for breadcrumbs. Though tasty in their own right, they were innocents, and thus irrelevant for now. That’s when they saw him seated at a table by the flowerbed, wearing his full suit and tie, waving his pale, skinny arm in greeting.

**Bingo.**

They heard his high-pitched teenaged voice greet with, “Good morning, Mr. Brock! So glad ya could make it!”

The twenty-something human put down his slice of pizza back into the medium-sized box in a truly sinister fashion.

**Oh, we just** ** _knew_** **this bag of-**

“Pietro?! Y- _You_ sent that email?”, Eddie gasped.

“Yeppers! Yours truly”, the kid drawled, “Howdy.” 

The bag of bones adjusted his spectacles, glinting in the sunlight with his golden hair, before motioning to the opposite chair. Their host hesitated, but then took a seat. It made a strange cracking sound, as if something broke, but otherwise seemed stable enough for their combined weight. Their opponent, Pietro Packer, offered Eddie a slice of pizza, but he politely, and rightly, refused.

_Let’s play it cool, V. Don’t give anything away._

**That strategy concurs with our calculations.**

The Kt’Zr’Kt’Rtl had perfected a field which barely existed on this world-system: Social Mathematics. So efficient was their understanding of social dynamics, that they resolved poverty and world hunger throughout their entire star system, and lived in peace without war. They had no divided ‘countries’, nor even a totalitarian government. The entire colony functioned like a single hivemind. Unfortunately for them, their Social Mathematics failed to take into account a mass invasion of brain-dead Orthnians, piloted by hungry Klyntar symbiotes, who did not care for negotiation.

Eddie twiddled his thumbs, “So… uhh, what’s this about, Pietro?”

“I should be asking you that, Mr. Brock. What _are_ ya about?”

Their host donned a mask of perplexity, feigning an expression of ignorance. The smart choice.

“For weeks… nothin’”, the opponent continued, “and all of a sudden, a stripper catches ya ‘bout to eat some hooligan?”

Their host’s facade faltered for a moment. It was a minor nervous glitch, well within acceptable limits.

Pietro looked up, staring into the sky, sun illuminating his golden blonde hair, gelled professionally off to one side. He began to monologue in his Texan drawl,

“I was always a huge fan of yer show. The Brock Report was all git out. Ya always bold said whatever ya wanted to, rest o’ the world be damned. Bless your heart when it was done. Oh well. We move on, don’t we, Mr. Brock? So I was fixin’ to make my own news. Get on at journalism. Yander a few months ago, I done become a huge fan of the Nightcrawler, when I first read ‘bout him. I done fancied that name much better. Simpler. But I reckon The Stalkin’ Shadow’s one that caught on. Can ya imagine my surprise then, when I done opened my eyes that my two favorite heroes might could be the same one?”

Eddie immediately let out a nervous laugh, which he then turned into a real, fake laugh to feign amusement. The recovery-transition was smooth.

“Pietro, my man, I think you’re too invested in your work. I’ve been there. Long hours cracking away at the same topic… suddenly everything seems connected.”

The well-dressed youth seemed to not hear, but turned to lock eyes with him and said, “I’m fixin’ to propose a sort of friendly cahoots, Mr. Brock. And I promise y’all I won’t reveal yer identity to the whole world.”

Eddie just continued sniggering at him, half-nervously.

“Riiight… wait, are you- are you recording this?”

“Don’t worry, Mr. Brock. Am not. Done have what I need already.”

_Venom?_

**He seems to be telling the truth, but this one is very hard to read. We don’t trust him either way.**

“Ms. Kao really likes the Man-Eater angle, ya git me? Cannibalistic serial killer loose in San Francisco. Juicy as Akaushi tenderloin. But that paints you as the villain… an enemy of the public…

But _I_ see somethin’ she don’t. Ya know what I see? I see a hero in the making! Someone who stands up against the weak, ’n’ punishes evil-doers! Indeed, I’ve noticed your all-natural corn-fed _diet_ , Mr. Brock. Sifted through a _TON_ of gruesome data.”

Their host’s ears actually perked up, face brightening momentarily, but Venom quickly shot him down with,

**Do not tell us you are actually listening to this morsel.**

They adjusted their algo-rhythm to account for the new data.

The morsel continued, “Think ‘bout it! Ya could be like… a vigilante hero! Let me make ya a hero, Mr. Brock. Otherwise, ya remain a villain, and the police might start takin’ a gander at this here folklore. Y’all don’t want that, naw?”

Venom suddenly seized control of Eddie’s mouth, speaking in the voice of Satan, 

**“Do you have any idea who you’re dealing wi-?”**

Their host quickly clamped both hands over his mouth. The symbiote had let their hot emotions overcome their cold rationality.

The skinny kid’s pale face paled more as his eyes opened wide. It was a rhetorical question, but the symbiote’s bloodlust stained it as a threat. How did the kid think this was going to go exactly?

_Shit. Bad idea, Venom. Our cover’s blown._

“That’s a threat… y’all just threatened me”, Pietro accused.

“N-No! I didn’t mean that. Just… _do_ you realize that, let’s say, _hypothetically_ , _if_ you were speaking to the actual Stalking Shadow, which I’m _not_ , but _if_ you had found the real one, why do you think you could negotiate with it? You’ve seen what it does to people.”

“Low-life criminals, yes. You tryna to tell me the Stalkin’ Shadow’d beef innocent folk?”

“N-No, but- **You are not so innocent.”**

_Damnit! Venom! Leave the talking to me, okay? You’re making this worse._

Mr. Packer pointed a finger at him, accusing, 

“Okay, _that_! _That_ was a threat. Y’all pitchin’ a hissy fit. I might could just reconsider this whole hero angle.”

Eddie reached out to say, “No, wait!”, but then crossed his arms, scoffing, “I mean… Pfft… We don’t care what you do.”

“We?”, the youth asked raising his eyebrow.

“ _I_. I don’t care”, Eddie corrected, looking off to the side indifferently.

“Ya don’t? Ya wouldn’t mind what I done wrote in my next article ‘bout ya?”

**Stick and stones cannot break our bones, and neither can words hurt us.**

“You’ve got no proof”, their host replied, narrowing his eyes at the opponent, “Just your bullshitting skills, _intern_.”

“All hat, no cattle, ya do accuse me.”

“Prove it, or get out of my face, kid.”

**Poor move. You passed the ball to him.**

It was best not to provide any hints that they were willing to negotiate. Negotiation was out of the question. There were several ways this encounter should go, and all of them ended in blood. 

Pietro got out his phone, and fiddled with it for a bit. Eddie’s shoulders tensed slightly in anticipation.

Bleep, bleep. The cellular in their pocket. 

Their host opened it to find an email from the same anonymous address. There were two attached media files: one audio… and one video. Eddie gulped.

“Oh, y’all might wanna, hmm… _shield_ your screen from other on-lookers. And ya might could wear headphones to boot.”

Eddie connected his bluetooth earpiece, and for once, actually used it properly.

The audio file was a short clip from his last doctor’s visit with Dan.

“Fucker. It was you who was outside, at the hospital. You were stalking me? You know that’s illegal.”

“Y’all welcome to sue me, but I don’t reckon the law’d be on yer side”, Pietro retaliated with a smug smirk, and then inquired, “And who in tarnation’s Venom anyhow?”

**You may find out soon, morsel… to your dismay.**

Eddie opened the video clip, and his eyes widened. Cortisol fluttered through the abdomen like butterflies. He quickly lowered his screen and hid it, suddenly checking behind himself. Nobody else was paying him any mind, as most people were staring at their phones themselves.

Their human’s eyes discreetly peered at the screen again. There was no audio, but the video was taken from outside the apartment. There was a good view of the interior through the window. They must have forgotten to close the blinds. 

Their host was lying unclothed on the couch. The symbiote was looming over Eddie, anally penetrating their lover as their fully embodied figure, except they had the head of a dragon, and their nipples grew long tendrils that played with Eddie’s. Their long dragon tongue had been lapping up the milk that leaked out. They remembered that one. Eddie’s face was slightly blurry, but it was still recognizably him, and the tattoos all over his body were visible. He closed the video.

Their human’s hands were trembling. Pietro just looked at him, innocently, waiting. He looked almost embarrassed on Eddie’s behalf. 

** This bag of bones just signed his death wish. **

Their host’s skin began to heat up slightly with Venom’s bloodlust, though perhaps not entirely belonging to just the symbiote. It radiated through their pores and grew thick, as the symbiote stayed silent, barely containing themselves, for now.

“It is going to be difficult… _very_ difficult… to convince Venom _not_ to devour you. Please just walk away, Pietro. You’re in over your head. You really _don’t_ know who you’re messing with here.”

“Oooooh, Venom! Ha!”, he exclaimed, slapping his knee, “That’s his big bug nomenclature then! _Nice._ ”

The soundscape of the many civilians walking and talking around them made it painfully obvious to the symbiote that they could not ‘start a scene’ at the moment. There was even a cop ordering a donut from a coffeeshop down the street. 

Eddie had set out a hard rule that cops were off-limits. He said that to attack a cop represented an attack on ‘the law’ itself, and that would bring the hammer down on them irrevocably. Not all cops were on the side of good though, nor even on the side of the law. Even those cops were off-limits. This rule was for their own safety, their human host had said.

**Can’t eat him right now, but later, when he’s walking home alone…**

_Venom, I know what you’re feeling, just… let me try to reason with him, okay?_

Their host warned, “Tread lightly, kid. We’re not ‘all hat, no cattle’, you get what I’m saying?”

“Nary said ya were.”

Their opponent looked through his spectacles off into the distance with a neutral expression. He took a deep breath, and then recited in drawl, almost as if he had practiced for a speech,

“There’s a countdown timer which I must manually refresh every forty-eight hours with a password, come hell or high water, lest the encrypted files stored on a cloud server, which include evidence like what y’all just viewed, along with a lengthy pre-written, and _extremely_ incriminating article that bears your name, Edward Charles Allan Brock, will be published to every major news outlet across the country, every police station in San Francisco, and to Olivia Tyler, the CEO of PsiOnyx. The article ends with: ‘The author, Pietro Packer, was killed by Mr. Brock, The Stalking Shadow’.”

Their human’s jaw just dropped open, dumbfounded. He didn’t know what to say to that, or what to do. So Venom acted for him. They stood him up, reached over, and gripped Mr. Packer by the collar of his dress shirt and hoisted him up off his chair like he weighed nothing. His glasses fell off onto the floor. Venom reeled Eddie’s other arm back, forming a tight fist. The kid finally had the decency to look scared. They could smell the pizza on his breath, reddish-orange. However, the smell of purple was entirely absent, which only infuriated them more.

_Wait, Venom, stop!_

Several people in the crowd were staring at them. They let him go reluctantly, and took a step back. Eddie raised his open hands to show that he wasn’t going to hurt him. He looked back down the street, but the cop was gone.

“Sorry… that wasn’t me. He- my other half, has a mind of his own. Let’s just… we can talk this through, right?”

**Why are you apologizing to this morsel? A predator does not bow to its prey!**

Pietro just nodded wordlessly, but maintained a defensive fighting stance. Not that that meant anything against them.

Eddie went to sit back down again, and looked at the enemy with an apologetic frown, while Venom pouted inside. This encounter was not going according to their simulations.

“Ain’t squat to see here folks! C’mon git!”, Pietro waved off the crowd, and they began to disperse.

He sat down again slowly, bending down to retrieve his glasses, unbroken, replacing them on his face, choosing not to speak first.

“Pietro, are you blackmailing me?”

“N-No! Don’t see it like that, Mr. Brock! It’s more like life insurance… for _me_. Fer real talk, y’all _did_ just threaten my hind, dad gum it.” 

“We’re not… we don’t just kill random people. We save people. We’re on the good side.”

“Then prove it. Work with me.”

**As if.**

Eddie rubbed his hands over his face.

Then he eyed Pietro cautiously, and asked, “What does Olivia Tyler have to do with this?”

“Still tryna be coy? Didn’t ya read my second article? ‘Twas Page 1 again. ‘The Stalking Shadow attacks PsiOnyx?’”

“No…?” 

“Well, it’s how I reckoned ‘twas you in the first place. I done knew y’all were investigatin’ that company… I… well, I eavesdropped on yer conversations with Ms. Kao. Like any daisy journalist, don’t mind me. And then I done saw the news about that break-in. The news guys didn’t catch on, but fer me, it was clear as the big Texas sky! Those claw marks! The work of The Stalkin’ Shadow, a’right. From there, I stalked ya from work back to yer apartment, and come blazes or high Adam’s ale, I done git recordin’ what I needed to record. And by _golly_ did I git an eyesore game o’ Texan Twister.”

“Jesus fucking christ. You’re crazy”, Eddie blurted.

The alien’s own cannibalistic hunger bled into their host, causing him to grab one of the pizza slices from the box without asking, stuffing it in his mouth. The yellow sweet-sour juiciness sang discordantly off-key from the red savoury-meaty sauciness. Eddie made a face, recognizing the sinister topping choice.

**See, Eddie! We cannot trust a guy who puts pineapples on his pizza.**

_I’m with you there, buddy._

“ _I’m_ loco?”, Pietro responded, “ _That_ , comin’ from ya? My, ya are _quite_ a whole ‘nuther character, Mr. Brock… between man eatin’ and… well, ‘ _man eating_ ’, ya git me? Far be it for me to judge, though! I’m just tryna do my job.”

Eddie’s eyebrows shot up, and his lips formed a tight line in ashamed shock, as the symbiote seethed within the Heart Cave.

Their human played off their embarrassment by joking, muffled through cheesy bread and salsa, “Who stalks the Stalking Shadow, anyway?”

“A joke I reckon? Does that mean ya fixin’ to reconsider?”

As their host gathered his thoughts, the symbiote gathered theirs. The workings of a Plan C, ‘C’ for Contingency, materialized in their internal possibility-space. It was not necessary to eat him at all. They could slip a discreet daggered tendril under the table, puncture the kid’s heart, then stand up quickly and walk away like nothing happened. Nobody would notice. Most of the humans around had their eyeballs hooked to the Screen, dependent on the dopamine dispenser of their digital drug. The only problem with the plan was that the kid might still get a scream out, and there was the issue of the timer. That move had to be considered cheating.

Eddie swallowed his cheesy mouthful to reply, “What if I say no?”

Luckily, their host was a sensible human being. The gold-haired kid frowned.

“Y’all are free to say no. Just as I’m free to continue publishin’ articles on the Stalkin’ Shadow shading him black like a cannibalistic night-fright. And if the police were ever to come to me… well, I’m not one to obstruct an investigation. I’m nothin’ but a cut-and-dried journalist.”

They threatened through their host’s voice, **“If you include any mention of Eddie…”**

“Y’all gon’ kill me? I won’t include yer name. Cross my heart, and hope to die! Just… if ya _do_ beef me, the timer goes off, and y’ill become a pariah and fugitive fer the rest o’ ya lives. That’s no threat, just stone-cold fact.”

“I wouldn’t… kill, even if you-”

Venom caught their host’s unfinished thought.

_Would I? Would I kill to protect Venom? Would I kill innocent people to protect Venom? No, I… I don’t- I don’t know what I would do-_

**We would. We would raze an entire civilization for you, Eddie. We would, and did, betray our entire species for you. We cannot forgive this morsel, who thinks they can threaten you, our beloved.**

That only made Eddie more uncomfortable. Perhaps their parameters could use some tweaking.

They imagined the bag of skin and bones sitting before them in various configurations, none of which counted as biologically alive.

_Don’t worry, babe, I got this._

The enemy was finishing his half-eaten slice of pizza from earlier in a most sinister fashion.

“Pietro… how can I trust you?”

**We can’t! Eddie!**

“I done came to ya, didn’t I, Mr. Brock? I even asked polite. Y’all got pizza! I coulda just wrote that article under a pseudonym.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Like I done said, I see yer potential! The Stalkin’ Shadow! As a hero! Ain’t lyin’ ‘bout that. If I truly reckoned ya a cold-blooded killer, Mr. Brock, I would not be here negotiatin’ with ya right now. And I must confess, I like me the extra bonus of gettin’ exclusive coverage on all Stalkin’ Shadow justice. If I exposed yer secret, then I’d be just ‘nother nobody reporter. I’m a long-term thinker. Here’s to hopin’, I might could one day even git my own show, like ya’d done yerself!”

Their host rolled his eyes. However, in his mindspace, parallel threads pondered in cognitive dissonance, as he watched the seagulls scurrying around. The arm motor function absently threw some pieces of pizza crust at them, and the crumbs were snatched up quickly by the hungry birds, just like their options.

**Eddie, say ‘No’.**

_We’re really backed into a corner, V. We can’t afford to make yet another enemy right now._

“Ughh… Okay, Pietro. You’re kind of an ass, but… What do you need me to do?”

Pietro smiled, extending a hand towards Eddie.

“We might could talk shop later, Mr. Brock. Let’s shake to make it big bug official. And can I have me an autograph? To be clear as mud, not _yours_ , Mr. Brock, I done got _that_ already. I want me the Stalkin’ Shadow himself…”

**“NO”** , the symbiote blurted through their host.

“Well… You heard him”, Eddie spoke in his own voice, “That’s a ‘No’ to the autograph.”

**Just the autograph?**

Eddie seemed hesitant, but Pietro grinned smugly in checkmate. Their host reached out and shook hands with the devil.

Internally, Venom growled in defeat.

***


	3. Chinese Molasses

*** EDDIE *** 

The air was streaked with the smell of dim sum, street trash, fried rice, car pollution, chow mein, and too many people. Eddie was sure he smelled some peking duck in there somewhere too as he walked the streets of evening Chinatown. There were pillars and archways blooming in lucky red, and jade green; brass dragons, glowing red lanterns, and Chinese symbols. 

Eddie closed his phone, and put it back in his pocket. The last text he’d received from his new ‘accomplice’ read: 

“By the way, I spoke to your neighbor, too. Just thought you ought to know. Sorry.” 

_So the asshole spoke to my asshole neighbor Ziggy. Great._

Incomprehensible asian rap flowed lyrical from a bootleg DVDs store, while asian folk classical eased out from antique gift shops. Street vendors selling sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf were repeatedly chanting the Chinese names of what they were selling at passers-by. 

**That guy. Smells like bloodlust.**

“You can smell…? Eh, I guess you would.” 

Eddie hated that they were racial profiling, but alas, it wasn’t his fault that the Wah Ching were composed almost entirely of Chinese males. The guy they were now following looked to be in his late 20s. Wah Ching meant “Chinese Youth”, although not all of their members were young. 

Their current target wore an oversized hoodie, with a t-shirt that extended even lower. It’s likely what was covering his crotch area, since the inseam of his baggy jeans seemed to start just above his knees. They could smell gunpowder in his left jean pocket. 

**We could pull his pants down first so he can’t run away. Or reach his gun.**

Smiling, Eddie patted his chest. 

_Glad you still got your sense of humor._

**Make no mistake, Eddie. We are still angry.**

It didn’t take long for them to follow the guy through an alley covered in graffiti, English letters interlocked with Chinese characters. Were they Chinese? They kept their distance, hiding behind corners, trash cans, dumpsters, and the insides of the arches of doorways set at intervals along the side brick wall of the building. 

Their target met up with two others. Neither Eddie nor his symbiote could understand the Mandarin conversation. They were smoking something, but Venom did not identify it as tobacco. 

Eddie put his ear against the door beside him, and confirmed that it was empty inside. He pointed his index finger at the keyhole of the locked door handle, and black oozed into it. After a few seconds, it unlocked with a click. 

The other two guys were leaving, and their target turned back around, walking their way, which was convenient. 

_Welp, here it goes._

Black surged out, and they became ‘We’ once more. Just as the guy walked near, they pulled him by surprise under the archway, tentacle gagging him immediately. They slipped indoors with victim in tow, and re-locked the door behind them. 

The area looked abandoned, under renovations. This time, they would listen carefully if anyone came, although that was not likely. Slick black goo reached into the dude’s low pocket, and pulled out the gun. The slime seeped into its cracks and swiftly disassembled it, and they pocketed the pieces. 

Venom was still pissed about the encounter this morning with the intern kid. Well, not an intern anymore, but regardless, he was itching to _kill_. They threatened this thug, asking about the higher ups who they reported to, or about Firefly, or Abigail. This one didn’t know how to be scared, even though they could smell the purple on his breath. Damn gangsters think they’re tough. 

“I ain’t tellin’ you shit! You think I’m scared of you? I’ve seen worse monsters.” 

**“Worse than us, morsel? Might change your mind once we start devouring your-”**

“Fuck you! Do it. Anything’s better than being burnt alive.” 

So they did. The cranium was like a hard-boiled egg, with the shell on. They needed it.

**Tastes like Chinese food.**

_Aw, c’mon, V. Not appropriate, right now._

After they were done, they snapped a quick picture, and Eddie typed up a quick email about who it was: “wah ching gangster”, and what his crime was: “he’s a dick, like you”. He attached the photo, and their coordinates, and fired it off. 

_Hope you’re happy, kid._

When they stepped back outside, as Eddie, they tossed the gun parts into three separate trash cans. 

They continued like this for the next two days also. They would stalk oriental-looking gangsters, and interrogate them where no one would see. Some of them they would eat, particularly if they were carrying a gun, and if they refused to answer their questions. 

They also did not kill those who were teenagers. Venom thought it was funny when Eddie would check their photo ID to confirm their age, as if to validate whether they were old enough to be worth eating. 

Some of them weren’t even Wah Ching, but belonged to rival gangs, such as ‘Asian Boyz’. Those ones were ironically the most helpful in giving out information about the Wah Ching. They learned from one that they ran a few illegal opium dens, but didn’t know much else. They let him live. 

Time was running out. Many of the thugs honestly did not know the answers to their questions. There seemed to be a ton of secrecy amongst even the gang members. There would need to be, in order for them to continue their operations without getting busted.

**It would appear that only the well-dressed gangsters, in dress shirts, seem to know anything at all.**

_Yeah, that ’s looking like the case. Well it narrows our search down._

They learned from a few of these well-dressed gangsters that the guy who was called ‘Firefly’ would “always know what you were thinking, even before you did”, and that he liked to set things on fire, particularly his enemies, but also anyone who so much as sneezed at him. Hot-tempered was the word. 

After every gruesome meal, Eddie texted Pietro the photo, coordinates, and information. Pietro sent back smiley and star emojis. 

_What a creep._

At last, they had found a guy who squawked, wearing a dress shirt and dark blue jeans. They learned from him the location of an opium den in a different district, not even Chinatown. It made sense.

**This one is telling the truth.**

_Then we have our lead…_

They could smell and see that the guy had pissed himself, darkening his jeans further.

**“Thank you, morsel.”**

“Oh fuck! Now, he’ll know I snitched! He always knows! I’m fuckin’ dead!”

**“You are correct.”**

They ate him too. 

* 

Eddie eyed the jar of phenethylamine pills on his bedside table that Dan had recommended, untouched for the past few days. They probably wouldn’t need to take them for a while, but they hid two pills on their person just in case. 

Their window blinds were shut tight. Eddie peeked outside through the blinds at the opposite rooftops and windows, just to make sure there was nobody there. He wondered where they would have been filmed from. 

He returned in front of his full-length bedroom mirror.

It had been four days since Abigail had gone missing; three since they’d learned about it from Jane. Their friend had called again at some point to let them know that the police still weren’t taking her case seriously. So it was up to them.

At some point, during the first night of their Chinatown patrols, when they finished with a gangster behind a dumpster, his alien sniffed out a dead baby inside it, amongst the trash, and Venom had immediately devoured it. Eddie spent the next several minutes on his knees vomiting it back up.

A black slimy wolf-head was dressing him now with their tentacles at the same time as playing with his phone. He was putting on a nice-looking grey suit. The den would only cater to rich assholes, so he needed to look the part. 

“Gotta dress smart.” 

**“As opposed to stupid?”**

“Hey…!” 

**“What?”**

“Nevermind. Uh… what are you texting Annie…?” 

**“Well, unlike you, she’s smart and fierce.”**

Eddie wasn’t quite sure why that comment stung, but it did. The ghastly wolf on his shoulder eyed him curiously. 

**“If anyone can get us out of this mess, it’s her.”**

“Wha- What are you talking about? What could Annie do for-” 

**“We’ve read about it. It’s called ‘extortion’.”**

Venom was helping him do his tie. Anne had always helped him out with his ties, since he always struggled with them. 

“Uhm… is this about… Pietro? Drop the phone. We can’t let Annie know about that. She’ll go berserk.” 

**“What is your point? We can rob him blind, the legal way, and we’ll also break his legs.”**

Eddie chuckled, “I’m pretty sure you can only do one or the other… not both.” 

**“Oh. That’s a shame.”**

“Aaaanyways… we have a way more pressing concern. Get your priorities straight, V.” 

**“They are straight. The mob is not directly opposing us. We’re seeking** **_them_** **out. This kid on the other hand** **…** **”**

Still, their symbiote complied and gave him his phone back. Eddie also grabbed his wallet from the bedside table to fiddle with the photo ID inside that read ‘Allan Charles’. 

_I hope this works._

The fake ID had come in handy a few times when he had done undercover journalist work. 

**“We have noticed something important, Eddie.”**

“Yeah?”, he asked, slipping the card back into the wallet. 

**“It would appear that while you have no problems being diminished to the level of a lowly dog, you do not take well to having your intelligence challenged. Does that mean that roleplay option is not-”**

“Oh my god, V. Priorities! You’re not taking this seriously, are you? Like, if they really have a guy who can read minds, we’re fucked. They would… wouldn’t they know about you?” 

**“If we enter a state of near-hibernation, we can mask our presence. If we can even mask it from you, Eddie, our host, there’s little chance of someone** **_outside_** **detecting us.”**

“Yeah… I guess. But if they read _my_ mind, our cover is blown. Worse than that… if he can set things on fi-” 

**“We will be prepared, Eddie. We will kill them before they can use their powers.”**

Memories of the rocket explosion sprang to mind. Eddie’s palms were mildly sweaty from heat as if the fire was really there. 

“I hope so. I really hope so.” 

**“This might calm your nerves.”**

Venom bumped their snarling, wolf head against Eddie’s, and they kissed. That worked a little. 

Unfortunately, the effectiveness wore off when the music started playing again. He had never heard a female voice curse so raw with anger before. Eddie actually liked rock, just not the screaming kind. It wasn’t quite his cup of tea. The combined angst both of them were feeling propelled them towards the source of the noise. 

He marched to his door, opened it, and stepped out into the hall. Walking up to the opposite door, he banged his fist on it loudly. Then after a few seconds, he banged it again. The music stopped, and when the door opened, Eddie shouted, 

“I thought I told you to **turn that shit down!”**

The young female on the other side of the door blinked at him unimpressed. 

_P- pretty…?_

Her long black hair was recently wet as if she just got out of a shower. She was wearing a black crop-top, and pre-torn jeans. There was a ring in her nose, and a butterfly tattoo on her belly button. Her arm bore a skull tattoo encircled by a ribbon inscribed: 

“DON’T PAINT ME BLACK WHEN I USED TO BE GOLDEN”. 

She was the type. 

“Oh… sorry”, Eddie apologized, “I thought you were… I guess you’re Ziggy’s girlfriend?” 

“Yeah, considering I’m single, you prolly got the wrong gal”, she replied, “And I don’t know any Ziggy’s. Cool name though.” 

“Uh… isn’t he the guy who lives here? Uhm…” 

“It’s just me here”, she replied, “Are you… the next-door neighbor?” 

_The dick moved out?_

“Oh. Yeah. Uh… my name is Eddie”, he said, as if in a daze. 

Her eyes were green like Anne’s, though deeper and richer, just like her belly button butterfly. 

“Cool”, she said, extending her hand, “Ramona”. 

_Marry me?_

He felt Venom reach his own hand forward to shake it for him. Her skin was smooth, and slightly wet and cool from water.

**You are attracted to this female?**

_Uh…_

Eddie shook his head to get himself together. 

“So… I feel like we may have gotten off on the wrong foot…”, he explained, rubbing the back of his neck, “I didn’t know my old neighbor moved out. I thought you were him, and- Just… I’m sorry for bothering you.” 

“No sweat. Is there anything else you need?” 

“Not really?” 

“‘Kay, well you have yourself a wonderful evening, Eddie”, she smiled, “I like your suit, by the way.” 

“Th- thanks…”, he stuttered, “and yeah, you have a good evening too…” 

She nodded, and closed the door on him slowly, locking it. 

Wow. Who was this mystery woman who just stepped into his life? Her name was Ramona.

_Damn. She said I had a nice suit. That counts as flirting, right?_

**Interesting…**

_Oh shit, V. I forgot…_

**So much for priorities, Eddie.**

_I’m sorry, V. I love you, just you, okay? I didn’t mean…_

**We’re not mad.**

_You’re not? Isn’t this kinda like… cheating?_

**We never understood that concept.**

_Oh. Woah. I’m gonna have to think about this…_

**We should have her. Might be fun.**

_Think so? Like… a three-way?_

**Perhaps. We will catch that butterfly.**

_Think she’d be down for… alien…_

**According to her mannerisms, she is the dominating type. Like Anne… How would you like to serve two masters, Eddie?**

_Oh Jesus. Okay, that’s enough of that._

Retrieving his key-ring from his pocket, he turned to lock his suite. The ring also held the keys to The Venomizer. Twirling it around his finger, he made his way down the hall. 

“We have work to do…” 

* 

The plush brown futon that took their massive weight was so comfortable, and so soft. Eddie was no longer nervous now. In fact, the _idea_ of being nervous didn’t make any sense. 

His fake photo ID had worked. 

The neon red lit interior was so thick with the smoky fog, that it should’ve been hard to breathe, but that didn’t matter. Eddie took the hose pipe from the tall hookah, embroidered with silver dragons and nude women, and brought it to his mouth for another toke. 

The opium, dubbed ‘Chinese Molasses’, smelled like undercooked brownies, with an odd fishy edge, and it tasted like old tires. Venom liked the smell, but despised how the smoke burned in their lungs. Eddie coughed it out, wheezing rather obnoxiously, but nobody else seemed to mind. 

Beside him, there were other men in suits lying down on futons, semi-conscious, themselves. There were some oriental women, half-dressed, giving out massages to the clients. Eddie had waved one of them off. In here, nothing else in the world mattered. Just meaningless half-sleeping bliss. 

Actually, some of the clientele were no longer so well dressed. Although they all had entered in suits, some were barely wearing anything at all. Now that he noticed, some of the women were giving out more than just massages. 

_Isn’t this… isn’t this dangerous, V? Like, I’m so fucked up right now, shit._

**No, the morphine is helping you to relax, Eddie. Besides, we can filter it out of your system in a few seconds, if we need to.**

_Fuck, I can’t even think straight. Weren’t we here to do something?_

**We can maintain enough separation from you to stay sober.**

He could feel his other’s goo flowing through his privates, which normally would have been arousing, but right now felt like a tingling numbness. Everything felt numb. 

_V… are you sure that’s a good idea? We gotta stay sharp here. This is enemy territory…_

**This is helping you to relax. That will help us stay sharp.**

_You’re just horny, V. You horny, horny alien, ha… ha… Seriously, I can’t even keep my thoughts straight. Can you tell me what’s going on?_

Eddie didn’t even realize his eyes had been closed. He opened them again to peer at the creeping smoke staining the neon red ceiling. It was hard to keep them open, so they began closing again. 

**Eddie.**

_Leave me be, babe. Just gonna rest here… and do nothing. Like… forever._

**We think we found a target. Probably owns this place? We were reading his lips. It was mostly Mandarin, but at some point, he said ‘Firefly’ to one of his men. He’s seated by that large couch further in. The one with the long ponytail.**

Eddie could feel himself sobering up as the lethargic heaviness was digested by his bodymate. With that, his prior nervousness also began to return, but then he felt some of his cortisol being consumed too. 

_That feels so weird._

**Let’s get closer.**

Standing up sober, they walked past rows of futons and tables of other clients in sleepy and bestial ecstasy, casually passing the table of the guy in charge, as if they were just heading to the washrooms. 

He was an older oriental man, perhaps in his 50s, 60s, or higher. On either side of him were two women young enough to be his daughters. One was sitting on his lap. His ponytail was longer than hers, and it hung down over the front of his shoulder, all the way to his waist. He sported a navy-blue suit without a tie, over a white dress shirt, top buttons undone to reveal his burly chest hair. He was peeling a pale-yellow, Chinese snow pear with a fancy silver knife. 

As they walked past his table, their enhanced hearing picked up one of the women whispering the man’s own name into his ear. They could also read her lips. His name was Mr. Huang-Zhao. 

Standing off to his side were two middle-aged oriental henchmen in business attire. On their belts were holstered revolvers, and SAP Guns. 

They continued past, and entered the public male restroom at the end of the hall, which was currently empty. 

“What. The. Hell? Did you see that, V?”, he whispered in a panic. 

**Yes.**

“They have SAP Guns! Where the fuck did they get SAP Guns?!” 

**Don’t know, Eddie.**

“Shit, it means they know about _you_. Did Pietro do this? Olivia? Ah fuck, maybe it was that Gonzo dude. Should’ve eaten him. And then we went and threatened several of those gangsters too without eating them. We’re gonna be found out at this rate…” 

He wanted to text Dr. Skirth, to find out what was going on, but he couldn’t right now. The bouncers had confiscated his phone before they had been allowed to enter. His breathing had shallowed to a near-panicked tempo. 

**He smelled like a homosexual.**

That gave Eddie momentary pause. 

“The fuck, V? Okay, that’s offensive to gays. You can’t _smell_ gay…” 

**He has the smell of cock on his breath. Probably sucks a lot of dick. Likely he’s less interested in his ladies than in his male clientele.**

“What the- What does that even have to do with anything?” 

**Coming up with a plan.**

“I think we’re screwed. If we show our hand here, Abigail is _gone_. We might be in danger too, V. We can’t find her this way. Damn!” 

**Got it. There is a way in.**

“The- there is?” 

**You’re not going to like it.**

*** 


	4. Casual Encounters of the Third Kind

*** VENOM ***

Her narrow, slanted eyes were lined with red makeup, augmenting her natural appearance to optimize for mate attraction. A similar technological augmentation was present in the light-brown highlights of her naturally black hair. She was undoing Eddie’s tie, while kissing him on the cheek. The futon made slight sounds as it shifted under the triad weight of the two humans plus symbiote. Their host was enjoying touching the silky smoothness of her fancy kimono, perhaps because it felt somewhat like _them_. 

After Eddie inhaled, he put the hookah hose in her mouth, and she inhaled too, and then let out an exaggerated sigh. The taste was dirty grey, while the smoky aroma was a rich brown, although it was visually white. 

**She likes you.**

Directly across from them, seated at the couch near the opposite wall, they could see Mr. Huang-Zhao sneaking glances at their host, while his two ladies gave him shoulder and chest rubs, and stroked his long ponytail. He had been cutting his snow pear into pieces, impaling them, and feeding them to the women’s mouths by the tip of his silver knife. Every time the older man looked their way, Eddie would look him back in the eyes, wink and lick his lower lip, and then look away with a shy smile. These were subtle mating calls. Not too loud, but still a clear message. 

**He likes you, too.**

_Don’t make this worse than it needs to be, Venom. And hey, you’re supposed to hide, remember?_

They continued like this for a while. The woman had unbuttoned Eddie’s dress shirt, and was rubbing her hand over his tattooed chest. He made sure to flex his pecs allowing its muscular contour to catch the sheen of neon-red. When the lady squeezed the nipple and it released its milk, she made a grossed out face, but then giggled hysterically. She did not squeeze any more after that. Their host didn’t seem to feel the usual embarrassment given the current state of his neurochemistry. 

_I am too fucked up right now to care._

The symbiote did not feel much jealousy about what was going on. In their hearts of hearts, they already knew who Eddie belonged to.

_Whatever happens, you know I’m yours, right?_

That total ownership gave the symbiote a sense of identity, a sense of being a ‘Me’ in their own right, which is why they called him by the first-person possessive.

**Yes, Eddie, you are Mine.**

Eddie had spread his legs apart, presenting the bulge within his grey dress pants to the man, who did not fail to notice. The symbiote filled out his bulge even more with their biomass, just for good measure. Their warmth caused their host to swell to semi-hardness, but the morphine was dampening the sensitivity of the nervous system. Venom could tell their host hated this plan, but in their calculations, it had the highest probability for success. They had learned of this computational strategy with the very first host they had ever attained symbiosis with: The Kt. 

Eventually, the girl next to them caught on that Eddie was paying more attention to Mr. Huang-Zhao than to her, so she stood up abruptly, scoffed at them, and marched off indignantly. 

Mr. Huang-Zhao was staring at them now with a curious look. Their host casually returned a shrug and a shy smile, before lying down on the soft futon, while still keeping the man in the corner of his peripheral vision. This area of the visual field had lower clarity to visual details, but was more sensitive to sudden motion. 

Their target dismissed his two ladies, and they got up and left. He stood up, walked towards his bodyguards, who were armed with the sonic weapons, whispered something in Mandarin to them, and disappeared around a corner. One of them followed him, while the other walked towards their lounging host. 

When he was near, the oriental man leaned over and said, 

“Good evening, sir. Mr. Huang-Zhao would like to meet with you in private. Please come with me.” 

Eddie stood up and followed him. They eyed his SAP Gun warily. They could easily disarm him if needed, but they sensed too many other henchmen around the facility. 

The venue was bigger than the front area would suggest. There were private rooms in the back. Behind closed sliding doors, feminine voices moaned, while some masculine ones grunted. 

This was their plan. Since they had no feasible way for Eddie to infiltrate the Wah Ching undercover, the symbiote would do it. They would transfer to Mr. Huang-Zhao, where they would do recon, and hopefully discover where Abigail was. 

Venom had promised their host that they would only be gone for a few days, before they would find their way back to Eddie on their own at their apartment. They’d taken two of the phenethylamine pills they’d kept on themselves in case of emergencies, to sustain them for the trip. Eddie had been, predictably, vehemently against the plan. 

He had protested, “There are so many ways this could go wrong. Why don’t you just read his memories and return back to me immediately?” 

**“We can do that with you, Eddie, because of our bond.** **With symbiosis, our host’s mind is like an open book. But we do not sense him to be a good match. We might only catch his stray thoughts, and he may not even know anything useful. Need to be discreet, Eddie. They know about us. And they have the guns. We also cannot simultaneously mask our presence, while also messing around in their mind. And we still don’t know who Firefly is. What if Mr. Huang-Zhao is Firefly?”**

They could not count on the sonic weaponry to be miscalibrated this time around.

That led to the second, perhaps even stronger, point of contention for their human host. 

**“…And the only way to be discreet when we transfer is by maintaining prolonged physical contact, skin-to-skin.”**

“Y- You want me… to let that old geezer… suck my dick?”, Eddie had asked in disbelief. 

**“That seems to be the only way.”**

“Holy shit, V. This is messed up on so many levels. And what if I catch something from him?” 

**“We’ll heal you… when we return.”**

Eddie had winced at those words: ‘when we return’. 

“ _If_ … you return.” 

**“Not ‘if’, Eddie. ‘When’. We promise.”**

The man leading them stopped in front of a sliding door and gave a special knock. It was slid open by the other guard on the inside. They gestured for Eddie to enter, and he stepped inside. 

Mr. Huang-Zhao was seated on a queen-sized bed. He had removed his navy-blue suit jacket, but his white dress shirt was still on, unbuttoned, revealing his chest hair. He was twirling the same silver butterfly knife around his nimble fingers, but when he saw Eddie, he clasped it shut, and pocketed it. He beckoned them closer with his finger. 

_‘Cept for a drunk handjob at a college party, I have no experience with guys… Just girls and aliens…_

Their host walked towards the bed, as the sliding door closed behind. He looked back, and they saw that the guard on the inside was still there with them, but he was turned slightly towards the side, rather than staring at the bed directly. Eddie gulped. 

“I’ve seen you looking at me with those lovely eyes of yours”, the man said in a raspy Chinese accent, “What’s your name?” 

“Allan Charles.” 

“Hello, Allan Charles. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Mr. Huang-Zhao, the owner of this fine establishment.” 

That was the extent of the chit-chat. The man was undressing their human now, taking off his tie, already loosened, then suit jacket, and then his dress shirt, half unbuttoned already. The symbiote was not used to having someone else undress their dearest human. It felt almost like _they_ were being undressed, exposed.

Eddie removed the man’s white dress shirt, and ran his hands through his chest hair, and down his back. The skin was wrinkled and rough. 

The man seemed to spend a few moments just marvelling at Eddie’s well-built tattooed physique, and then he bent over to lick and bite at his pec muscles. When he bit the nipple, the man recoiled in surprise when it lactated in his mouth. However, he smirked and continued the nipple biting without further comment. From the physical contact, it was easy to verify that the man’s brain did not have machinery in it. He was likely not Firefly. 

Through their bond, they knew that Eddie only liked being bitten by one person, and that was Venom. Their penis had remained flaccid. 

_Hope he doesn’t grab me there yet…_

** We got you. **

The symbiote poured their biomass into the corpora cavernosa and expanded to fill it artificially. The penis grew in hardness despite the lack of arousal. This way, they would be prepared to initiate the transfer when it was time. 

To play it safe, though, now that they were this close to the man, the symbiote masked their presence. They couldn’t risk being detected at all, especially with the man behind them wearing the SAP Gun. They could only watch now. 

The man raised his head and pushed his lips against Eddie’s. Their host reluctantly opened his mouth, receiving the tongue, tasting foreign DNA, and sampled the tastes of various penises. Eddie put his hand behind the older man’s head, fingers brushing against the ponytail. They could transfer now, but they didn’t think the kiss would last long enough. As predicted, after a moment, the man stepped back. 

Then, Mr. Huang-Zhao did something that was not part of their plan. He unzipped his own pants. 

_He wants… he wants ME to blow HIM? No way..._

The man pulled out his erect penis through the open zipper, put his hand on their host’s head, and pressed down. Eddie slowly got down on his knees to the hard linoleum floor. This activity would be a first for their human, although he had some practice with Venom’s long tongue. The gag reflex could be suppressed, so it should be easy. The main issue was Eddie’s sharp teeth. He would need to be careful. 

They watched, and felt, and tasted the external cock, as Eddie gave the man a reluctant blowjob, making sure to cover his near-fangs with his lips. Bands of tension tightened across Eddie’s whole body at the unwelcome intrusion in his mouth, and the inevitable stage 2 of their master plan. 

This was their cue. Their biomass slowly seeped into the man’s body, little by little, through Eddie’s mouth and into the man’s hard penis. Mr. Huang-Zhao was so focused on his pleasure, that he didn’t notice anything strange. If anything, it only heightened his pleasure. 

The symbiote greeted the man’s immune system. It was not overly hostile, but not exactly friendly either. In the coming days, it would certainly eat away at them, though. Two phenethylamine pills might not have been enough. 

As the symbiote gradually transitioned from one host to another, they could view from two perspectives at once. 

Looking down through their new eyes, they could see their new hands gripping tightly onto the short brown hair of Eddie below them. They could feel themselves thrusting their hips, fucking their erection into his mouth. Yet at the same time that they felt their penis being fellated, they felt their other mouth sucking it. 

And on the side they were leaving, they could feel the tears forming in Eddie’s eyes. The symbiote felt sorry for him. When this was all over, they would be sure to kill Mr. Huang-Zhao for him. 

Even when more than 75% of their density was in the older man than remained in their true host, they kept their core mass as the residual in Eddie’s Heart Cave for as long as possible.

** Goodbye, Eddie. **

Then there was only one side to look from. They were Mr. Huang-Zhao now, and he was none the wiser. They heard gagged choking sounds below, as ‘Mr. Charles’ reeled his head back from their penis. 

Their new host looked down, annoyed. Mr. Charles had tears in his eyes. He was crying. 

“We are not fucking done yet”, their new voice said, in a thick oriental accent. 

He pulled hard at Mr. Charles’ brown hair, and forced their cock back into his mouth. Mr. Charles gagged again and he pulled away once more. 

“Too deep…”, Mr. Charles croaked. 

The symbiote was no longer there to restrain his gag reflex. 

“Excuse me? I didn’t say you could stop.” 

He yanked hard on Mr. Charles’ hair again, nearly pulling some out, and once again pulled his face onto their demanding penis, but then something rather sharp seemed to scratch it. Mr. Huang-Zhao yelped, and he pulled himself out. 

“Please…”, the kneeling man pleaded, “New York.” 

Their standing host snapped, “Did you just fucking bite me?”

“I’m sorry! I can’t do this-” 

Lifting his arm, the older man back-handed Mr. Charles hard across the face, causing him to stumble to the floor. In reaction, the symbiote seethed with bloodlust, but they contained themselves barely. They wanted nothing more than to consume this man from the inside out, and return to their proper host, but then all would’ve been for nought. 

“You ruined my mood, faggot.” 

The man tucked himself back in, and re-dressed in his dress shirt, while glaring at Mr. Charles in frustration, who had gotten back up, on all fours, and was just staring at the floor. 

Their new host didn’t seem to notice the additional bloodlust that had flooded his system. It might have even been a normal feeling for him. 

After their new host was fully dressed again, they walked to the guard at the door and commanded in Mandarin, which Venom somehow could vaguely understand as, 

“Kick him out. Tell him that if he shows his face here again, you’ll kill him.” 

The man nodded, and opened the sliding door for them. 

They heard Mr. Charles behind them let out a soft cry, and then mumble, 

“Please come back to me…” 

With Mr. Huang-Zhao, they exited the room without looking back. 

**We will, Eddie** , they thought privately to themselves, **We will**. 

*** 


	5. Stupid

*** EDDIE *** 

**stu·pid** \ ˈ stü-pəd\ 

_adjective_

**1.** having or showing a great lack of intelligence or common sense. 

_“Don’t be stupid, stupid!”_

* 

The ceiling fan above the bed kept on spinning with the rest of the world, spinning around and around and around. Just another day, right? 

Some light music from the laptop was playing in the other room. It was a random playlist of popular songs. The current one sang, 

“Hello darkness, my old friend… I’ve come to talk with you again…” 

_Really? Does it have to be this one?_

Laziness weighed down on his chest, preventing him from getting up to change it. 

He gripped at that spot near his heart where there was now a hole, a vacancy, where his other should be. It’s been there since two days ago. Since Separation. 

_That was a stupid idea. Really stupid. Why’d you go and do that, V?_

There was no response. The silence was killing him. He hadn’t realized the extent to which he’d gotten used to the symbiote’s constant commentary and witty remarks. 

_I miss you, Venom._

He missed the feeling of the symbiote permeating every fiber of his body, suffusing him from head to toe, filling up every little gap inside. They had fit together so perfectly, on a cellular level, like jigsaw pieces. Now he felt like only half of himself, and so, so empty inside, metaphorically and literally. Venom had even repeated those very same words of farewell just before the very last drop of him oozed out of his mouth: 

**Goodbye, Eddie.**

The sad song was really putting a damper on the mood. 

_Why did I let him do that? God, I’m so stupid. Stupid!_

An image of the Golden Gate bridge flashed in his mind. He let out a exasperated yell at the ceiling. Then he remembered Venom’s words: 

**“We got you.”**

_He’ll return to me. He must. He said he’d be back by Saturday. I just gotta wait until then._

He hated that while his symbiote was putting himself in danger to rescue Jane’s daughter, he was sitting here in his apartment feeling sorry for himself. He felt so weak, like he could do nothing without Venom. He didn’t like that feeling, but if he had to choose between being strong and independent, or being completely dependent on and taken care of by his alien lover, there was no contest. 

Something his lover had told him back in the washroom sprang to mind: 

**“Don’t do anything stupid while we’re gone”** , Venom had said. 

_Goddamnit, V, I won’t!,_ he thought to himself, _Just hurry up and get back to me!_

When the sad song finally changed to something more upbeat, Eddie stood to go look at himself in the bedroom mirror. He had been too lazy to dress and undress himself without Venom’s help, so he just wore the same shorts and tank top he’d been wearing yesterday and the day before. There were bags under his eyes, he’d barely slept the past two nights. He stuck out his tongue. It hung down past his chin. His teeth were still pretty pointed too. 

_Huh. So that stayed._

He pushed into his tank top to reveal his tattooed chest, and he took the nipple between his index finger and thumb, hesitant but curious. Then he let go, deciding against it. 

There was a slight bruising on his temple where he had been struck. It hadn’t healed. 

_I can’t believe I blew that douche._

A slight bruise on the other eye showcased the brief beating he’d received from the guards when they kicked him out. 

_I can’t go back there now… I just gotta hope Venom finds his way back somehow._

Horror dawned on him. 

_What if it changes V? To be in there with him? He said he was like water… that he becomes like his host. Shit, what if he likes it better there? They could kill and rape to their heart’s content, and he wouldn’t need me telling him to control his urges all the time._

However, after a moment, he felt guilty for his sudden lack of faith in his star-crossed lover. 

_No way, V wouldn’t do that._

Another worry assaulted him. 

_But what if he gets caught? And they SAP him? Or worse… burn him. How could I have let him put himself in danger like that? Even for Jane…_

He remembered what Venom told him in the washroom, 

**“You said you wanted us to be heroes, Eddie. We can be heroes!”**

That brought a smile to his face, but it turned into a grimace from the pain. 

An old tattoo he’d gotten at 17 on the side of his forearm jumped out at him. It was a goddess’ face whose hair was long swirling brown curls like wind. Eddie had gotten it while he was seeing Sarah. However that was a long time ago, so now the tattoo just reminded him of his mother Jamie who he’d never met. 

A bit of a chubby could be felt growing in his shorts. He wasn’t aroused though. This was just one of those spontaneous erections, although perhaps it didn’t help that the new song that had started playing was about sex. 

This has been the longest since he has gotten off in a while: five days. Absent-mindedly, he reached his hands into his shorts to grab his semi-hard cock, and pulled it out. Looking at it in the mirror, he began to stroke himself, and it hardened further, but the enthusiasm was missing. 

_It’s just not the same without you, V._

The song changed to a love song. 

_Great._

Hadn’t most of the songs been love songs, though? Tucking himself back in, he walked into the living room. He turned off his laptop to stop the music. 

A happy song began to play, but it wasn’t from the laptop. It was the ringtone from the phone back on his bed. He re-entered the bedroom, flopping onto the bed to take the call. 

“Howdy, Mr. Brock!” 

The small-town drawl narrowed down who it was. 

“Pietro, I really don’t want to talk right now.” 

“Oh, well, I just wanted to thank ya, _and_ yer pardner, for the _incredible_ material y’all provided me. Just as I done promised, I’ve written an article about how our local _hero_ in the shadows is cracking down on street crime in Chinatown-” 

“That’s great, Pietro. Real great”, he replied dryly. 

“Oh, Ms. Kao is gonna be _soo_ pleased with our work! Well, I mean it’ll be published under _my_ name, but-” 

“That’s who this is all for? Why don’t you just bed the damn Cow already?” 

Low chuckling came from the other end. 

“Oh god. Eww. Okay, I didn’t need to know that. Why my boss, dude?” 

“Hey now, I don’t judge _you tw_ o. How is Mr. _Man_ -Eater everwho? Git up to more brokeback rodeo?” 

“Mind your own damn business. We’re not friends, got that?” 

“Oh. My apologies, Mr. Bro-” 

Eddie hung up, annoyed. 

He got up to go take a quick cold shower, and afterward, went to set the kitchen oven to pre-heat. 

_Food. I just need food in me. Low on energy._

Opening the fridge, he fished out a frozen package of tater tots. The touch of chilled cardboard evoked a remembered feeling of childhood nostalgia. He always did love these things. Layering the frosted nuggets on a tray, he placed it in the oven with mitts. He spaced out for a minute just watching them through the screen. 

“You know they’re ready, kiddo? When they’re golden brown”, he remembered the man saying, whose name was Carl Brock. 

The daydream was dispelled with the tune of his phone ringing. He went to retrieve the device from his bedroom. 

“Hello?”, Eddie answered. 

“Hi, Eddie? Dr. Skirth here. Sorry I couldn’t take your calls last night. Been really busy lately. What’s up?” 

“SAP Guns. You selling them to gangsters now?” 

“What? I don’t understand-” 

“What I said, Dora! Are you guys selling SAP Guns to gangs?” 

“No! Of course not! We would never sell to criminals.” 

“Well, I’ve seen them, okay! I’ve seen mobsters carrying them.” 

“Are you… _sure_ , it was a SAP Gun?” 

“Definitely. Nothing else looks like that. You guys get robbed again, or what?” 

“Not that I know of? We had one prospective buyer approach us about three days ago, who inquired about, and then immediately bought a decent quantity of our wares, including a large supply of SAP Guns. That’s all. The firm has been struggling financially due to some lawsuits-” 

“Who? Who bought them?” 

“I’m not sure I’m supposed to say…” 

“Ughh… okay, this has something to do with the PsiClops thing. I- _We_ have been looking into it. _We_ have a lead. This would really help us out.” 

She sighed, “Okay, fine… it’s this startup… Volunteer and Internship Recruitment Agency Ltd. Or VIRAL for short. What exactly does this have to do with the PsiClops?” 

“I don’t know yet… it’s sort of a hunch. We’re also looking for a missing girl.” 

“A missing _girl_? What?” 

“Ugh… I don’t feel like explaining everything right now, Dora. Just... you guys need to stop selling your goddamn SAP Guns.” 

“I’m not sure that’s a decision for me to make.” 

“Then I have nothing more to say to you.” 

He hung up angrily, and threw his phone onto the couch. Steaming, he returned to check on the tater tots, which had begun to defrost. 

_Damnit. I didn’t mean to yell at her. I’m just angry. And tired. So tired._

He brushed his hands over his hair. It still hurt a bit from where the asshole had pulled his hair. He laid down on his couch for some minutes, absently holding his phone, and just drinking in the lonely silence.

_I can’t be alone right now. Fuck._

Lifting his phone, he was about to punch in his passcode.

Knock, knock, knock.

That was the apartment door.

When he walked over and opened it, Ramona greeted him on the other side. 

“Hi… Eddie, was it?”, she asked. 

Her long black hair was tussled like she didn’t care, but it also looked deliberate. She wore a black shoulderless top, revealing her black bra straps, and pre-torn blue jeans, showing her knee caps. The shirt depicted a cartoonish hanged man. Her eyes were still dark green, like looking into a forest. 

_She’ll do._

“Yeah, that’s right”, he greeted, “And you are Ramona.” 

Only then did he realize how sleep deprived he must look, in addition to the bruises on his face. That’s a strike against him. Then again, she either had slight bags under her eyes too, or it was dark eye shadow. Either way, she somehow made it look good. 

“Ramona Lisa is my name, yes”, she confirmed, “I just wanted to say- Woah, your face. What happened to you?” 

“Just a bar scuffle with some drunk asshole, no big deal. Wait, your name is Ramona _Lisa_? Are you joking?” 

“No, my dad chose Ramona because he thought it would be funny”, she giggled, “Anyways, I just wanted to apologize for the loud music last time… I hadn’t realized how thin the walls were.” 

“Oh, no worries. It’s not a problem, actually. You can… play your music…” 

“Just wondering… are you… living with anyone?” 

“What? Oh no… it’s just me in here. Uh… are you?” 

“No, it’s just me too.” 

“Cool. Do you… want anything to drink? I could… make coffee?” 

“Hmm… I’m more of a beer girl.” 

Eddie hadn’t bought beer in a while. That’s another strike. 

“Dang… I’m all out, y’know. Tell you what? I’ll go down to the convenience store and grab some… I’m also making tater tots.” 

“Oh, no no. You don’t have to do that…”, she declined. 

Then she eyed him up and down. He was wearing his ruffled tank top and shorts, plus flip flops because the floor had gotten a bit dusty again. He was certainly not at his freshest. 

“Without your suit, you look way more buff”, she commented, “And you’re all tatted up! That’s _gnarly_. Would never have known... considering how you showed up last time.” 

“Oh yeah. You wanna see? I could show you…” 

“Hmm… maybe another time”, she considered thoughtfully, “I only have the three inks myself, but I might go for number four soon.” 

“Skull, butterfly, and…?” 

“Ah, just a small lightning bolt.” 

“Haven’t seen that one yet.” 

“Yeah, considering where I got it, I’m not sure you will”, she smirked. 

“Oh yeah?”, he flirted, “Is that a bet?” 

“Uhm…”, she flinched with a face, “Excuse me?” 

Three strikes. You’re out! 

“Oh, I- uh…”, he stumbled, actually taking a step backwards. 

_Stupid. So stupid._

She asked, “Don’t you… have a boyfriend?” 

“Wait… excuse _me?_ ”, he replied, eyes wide. 

“You… don’t?” 

“I guess… I do…?” 

Strike four? 

“Yeah, okay, so I hate to ask this but…”, she continued, “Could you two keep it down after like midnight? I have to get up in the mornings, so…” 

Strike five. 

_Just shoot me now._

“Oh, I’m so sorry about that. Yeah, we’ll try to keep it down.” 

“Cool, thanks”, she replied, “I don’t mean to ruin your mojo or anything… Like, I’m into some pretty kinky shit myself, y’know what I’m sayin’?” 

“Oh yeah?” 

“Oh yeah”, she smirked, “Chao.” 

She slowly walked backwards into her open suite, maintaining green eye contact, and then slowly closed her door. Then he closed his too. 

_Bummer._

The faint smell of tater tots was beginning to fill the apartment, and he felt his stomach growling. 

Eddie checked his phone again. Tomorrow was Friday. He typed up a text which said, 

“changed my mind. still good for dinner?” 

He sent it. A few minutes later, he got the reply, 

“of course! we look forward to seeing u 2 <3” 

* 

It was really chilly out. He was a bit underdressed, but at least he had the knitted scarf on. Eddie could see his frosted breath swirling out his mouth like the opium he had smoked three days ago. Somehow, without his symbiote to warm him up with hugs, the world got just a little bit colder. He looked through the door window to the stairwell, and noticed his reflection in the glass. The bruises had mostly healed on their own, but he still hadn’t slept. 

The door opened, and Anne stepped out, wearing topaz earrings and a smile. She had on a lemon-yellow frilly dress, complementing her pale-blonde hair. 

“Hey guys!”, she beamed brightly, “It’s good to see you both again!” 

“Hi Annie… Sorry, I didn’t bring anything-” 

“Oh, no worries, Eddie! Wow, nice scarf! Rainbow. Didn’t know that was your style.” 

He rubbed the back of his neck shyly, looking down at the floor. 

“It was a gift”, he replied. 

“What happened to your favorite color, Eddie? Rainbows don’t have black.” 

_Ouch._

He frowned at her, not knowing what to say. He felt faint. She returned a concerned look. 

“Eddie, you look like you haven’t slept in days. Is everything alright?” 

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a bit cold.” 

Anne raised her eyebrow, and prodded, “ _You_ getting cold, Eddie? I thought Venom-” 

Eddie just wrapped himself around her, not saying anything. He felt like he might collapse from fatigue. 

She seemed shocked, but hugged Eddie back, patting him on the back. After a moment, as if she already knew what had happened, she ushered, 

“Okay, let’s get you inside.” 

* 

The king-sized bed had the familiar smell of nostalgia, of Annie. That was ages ago, and the smell was now mixed with another masculine smell, not his own. He stretched out his limbs, letting out a loud yawn. He was wearing a clean dress-shirt, jeans, and socks. The indistinct chattering in the hallway stopped, followed by the sounds of some footsteps. 

_I must have fallen asleep?_

Dan’s silhouette appeared in the doorframe of the bedroom, next to the massive wooden wardrobe. 

“How you feeling, champ?”, Dan asked. 

“Bloody awful.” 

“Would you like me to get you anything? Water?” 

“No, no, I’m- I’m getting up. Sorry for using your bed.” 

“No need to be sorry, Eddie. We’ll be in the living room”, Dan said as he turned to leave. 

Eddie spent a few more minutes just laying there. When he felt ready, he got up, and went into the living room to join his friends. 

Anne greeted him with a teacup in hand. 

“Hey, Eddie. I brewed some hibiscus tea. I read somewhere that it lowers blood pressure and stress. Did you have a good nap?” 

He accepted the teacup. 

“Yeah, I feel more rested now. Maybe I shoulda stayed home. Didn’t mean to use your bed.” 

“Oh, well, you know… stuff happens”, she babbled, “Uhh… don’t worry about it.” 

Eddie sat down on the smaller red couch, near their second-story window overlooking the residential street, and put his tea on the coffee table, on a glass coaster. Anne joined Dan on the other larger leather couch near her bedroom doors. The doctor was petting Mr. Belvedere on his lap. The damned cat actually let someone other than Anne pet him. 

Anne just eyed Eddie, like she was waiting for him to say something. He hadn’t told them yet. 

Just as he was about to speak, he noticed the new ring on her finger, carrying a square emerald, and he formed a smile, looking to Dan, and then back at the ring. Dan caught on, and he smiled too. 

“It happened”, said Eddie. 

“Yep. It happened”, Dan echoed. 

“What?”, Anne asked confused. 

“We mean the ring, honey”, he said, still petting the cat, “Eddie here was the one who… convinced me that it was the right time.” 

She laughed, “Oh my god. No! _Really_? That’s lame, Dr. Lewis. You are lame.” 

Dan laughed, wrapping his free arm around her waist, and retorted, 

“And you love me for it.” 

“I’m so- really happy for you two”, Eddie said, “When’s the wedding, guys?” 

“Oh, that’s still a ways off”, Anne waved away, “Dan has a _huge_ extended family in Virginia. Gotta make sure everyone’s free at the same time… We’ll be having it over there.” 

“All the way out on the East Coast”, Dan said, “It’s been quite some time since they’ve seen me.” 

“Am- Am I-?”, Eddie asked hesitantly. 

“Eddie, _of course_ , you are invited”, Anne insisted, “Don’t be ridiculous. You don’t have to ask.” 

He looked uncertainly at Dan, and the groom-to-be reassured, 

“We would _love_ to have you and Venom at our wedding.” 

Eddie just stared blankly at Dan for a few moments, blinking. Dan looked back at him, a bit confused, and then looked to Anne as if she might know what’s going on. Anne gave her fiancé a skewed expression letting him know he just said the wrong thing, and then returned Eddie a sympathetic look, waiting. As if on cue, Mr. Belvedere jumped off Dan’s lap and scurried off. 

Finally, Eddie explained, “Venom is not here right now.” 

“What?”, Dan asked, surprised, “What do you mean Venom is not-?” 

“Venom- he’s… not here… right now”, he forced himself to repeat. 

“Well, where’d he go?”, Dan inquired innocently. 

“He’s- he’s- just-” 

Anne wore a worried frown. 

Eddie buried his face in his hands and began to cry. As he let it out, it turned into loud sobbing. He didn’t want Annie to see him like this, to see him so weak, but he couldn’t contain it anymore. 

The sobbing continued for a few more moments, but the arms that wrapped around his torso caught him off guard, and he suddenly stopped. It was Annie. Dan joined them on his other side, on the couch, and he hugged him too. 

They spent a few minutes like that, just sitting in silence, with him being held in the middle. 

Eddie felt a bit self-conscious now, with both his ex and her now fiancé so close, so he couldn’t cry out loud anymore, but he still released some muffled tears. 

Eventually, he told them the story. Well, just the bare essentials of the story. Nothing about the blowjob. 

Predictably, Anne then reprimanded him harshly for putting himself in danger like that, and Dan had tried to calm her down, and to not be so hard on him right now. They were the normal that helped Eddie ground his weird. 

Yeah, he needed this. He really needed this. 

“Thanks guys”, he said gratefully, as he sipped his hibiscus. 

The couple had returned to the other couch, and they smiled at each other. This seemed like the right moment to tell them the other thing. Eddie had finally decided, as his lover had put it once: to grow some balls. 

“There’s something else I want to tell you, Anne. I was afraid to say this before...” 

“Well, whatever it is, I’d love to hear it, Eddie”, Anne said smiling. 

“Back when I thought Venom had died from the rocket explosion…”, he started, “Back when I thought he was dead…” 

He looked at her face to gauge her response. She looked sympathetic, but he felt apprehensive now. It was too late to stop. 

“I tried to kill myself.” 

“Wha- what do you mean you tried to-?”, she asked not quite registering. 

The doctor’s eyes shot up in surprise, but his lips were closed. He knew this was not his conversation to step into. 

It was hard to look Anne directly in her emerald eyes, so he looked down at his tea on the table instead. 

Eddie elaborated, “I jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge. Venom- he saved my life. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be here right now.” 

There was the approaching sound of footsteps to the side of the table, and when he looked up, Anne slapped him across the face. Combined with the slight bruising that was still there, it stung. 

Eddie turned his head back, to look up at her face. Her green eyes were slightly wet. 

“I called you! I called you _so many times_!”, she yelled, “Were you not even thinking about the people who cared about you?” 

The tears had returned in his eyes too, although he wasn’t sure if that was a reaction to being slapped. 

“I’m sorry…” 

“You…”, she hissed, “You coward! How could you be so _stupid_?” 

Her words stung even more than the slap. 

_Stupid…_

That was what his father called him. That was why it hurt. 

“I don’t know- I don’t”, he buried his face in his hands. 

No, the tears were not just a reaction to being slapped. 

He heard Dan’s voice near her reassure, “Honey, take it easy on the poor guy.” 

Eddie looked up. 

Anne shook him off with, “Get off me!” 

Dan took a step back, putting his hands in the air. 

“Eddie’s been through a rough time, both then and now”, he tried to console, “He survived an _explosion_ , not to mention many other traumas. It’s understandable that-” 

“Oh, and that makes it okay for him to jump off a fucking bridge?!?” 

Eddie winced at the venom in her words. He had forgotten how scary _she_ could be. 

“Okay. I’m going go step into the kitchen for a minute, and take care of some dishes”, Dan said calmly, and walked off. 

Eddie just sat there, not knowing what to say. Anne turned and paced around the other couch with a hand on her forehead. Then, she sat down again. She gave Eddie another quick disappointed look, then grabbed her tea on the table to sip at, ignoring him. 

He realized what the doctor had just done. Dr. Lewis had just taken the heat, Anne’s wrath, off of Eddie, and onto himself, and then he had vacated the room to let her cool off. The guy always knew the right thing to do in any situation. 

The silence was unusually awkward with her. Eddie was grateful when Dan finally returned from the kitchen with two small plates of deviled eggs whose yolks were imbued with a brown sauce. 

“Deviled eggs, anyone?”, Dan offered cheerfully. 

Eddie took the plate, thanking, “Thanks, Dan.” 

“You are very welcome!”, he beamed, and then turned, “Anne?” 

Anne reached for her offered plate, and stuffed one of the eggs in her mouth in a not very feminine manner, and ate it quickly. Eating food had always been her coping strategy. Dan put the plate on the table, and sat beside her at a foot’s distance, but she scooched over to close it, which caused them to smile at each other. 

Eddie bit into the egg, and he moaned slightly from the flavor. The yolk was imbued with chocolate. Of course it had to be chocolate. Both Anne and Dan looked at him funny, she even smirking. It tasted amazing, as expected of the surgeon’s cooking. It helped to ground him back in his body a bit. 

Dan offered, “You must be starving. We have more food in the kitchen if you’re still hungry.” 

Actually, he didn’t feel as hungry without his other there. In a way, this was almost a relief. That thought made him feel guilty. 

“Eddie, I’m sorry for yelling at you... and hitting you”, she apologized. 

“I understand why you did…”, he replied. 

“Good. Because I’m still mad at you. But I am sorry.” 

“Yeah. I’m sorry too.” 

Dan said, “I’m glad that you trusted us enough to tell us about this sensitive topic. I have no idea how that must have felt for you.” 

_That’s right, Dan, you have no idea._

Anne got up and walked around to Eddie’s side of the table again. She raised her hand, and he flinched, as if she might slap him a second time, but she just ran her fingers through his messy brown hair. She leaned down and kissed him on the forehead, before standing again. Dan’s face only showed a slight smile. 

“Take care of yourself, Eddie”, she said. 

He nodded, with her hand still weighing on his head. However, the one who had been taking care of him since that fateful incident, just l ike the other motherly women in his life, none of whom were his mother, was Venom.

Eventually, he ate just a bit more of Dan’s cooking, but not much as he didn’t want to overstay his welcome, which was silly since it was Anne and Dan. Still, the evening had gotten more emotional than any of them had planned, so they would all need some time to rest. Anne had given him a short hug before he left. 

As he rode The Venomizer back to his apartment, he went just a bit faster than usual, just in case Venom had decided to return a day earlier. The alien was shockingly punctual though, so most likely not. 

_Just a day left. I’m waiting for you, love._

*** 


	6. Undercover

*** VENOM *** 

SATURDAY 

“Twirl, flick, butterfly trick”, their new host recited in an attempt to impress the man in front of him. 

The naked, kneeling man in his 40s looked scared instead. That man named Esteban Delgado had been used in ways that would scar him for the rest of his life. Fortunately for him, that duration would be very short. 

Slash. 

The man slumped to the ground. There were several whip-lines drawn on him already, but the latest red line across his jugular was the last. 

_What a mess_ , their new host thought. 

**Would be better if we ate him** , the symbiote thought to themselves, hidden from their host, **And not in _that_ way.**

Mr. Huang-Zhao pulled out a red handkerchief from his dress shirt pocket, and cleaned the prized silver blade. The twin handles of the butterfly knife were like two rows bejewelled with pink diamonds. With a flick of the fingers, the blade spun in circles, and the handlebars clasped it closed like a sandwich, before the man pocketed it in his dark gray suit.

It turns out his real last name was Bingwen. ‘Huang-Zhao’ was just a codename. The symbiote just stuck with the latter to avoid giving themselves a second identity crisis.

Their new host had quite the appetite, and for many different delights. With him, there was no need for the symbiote to hold back their primal hunger. It was so easy to take. They hurt others, and not always Bad People. It was fun, oh, it was _extremely_ fun. However, they knew they were technically being Bad People themselves.

Very little of what they consumed, drank, smoked, etc., involved chocolate or brains. Interestingly, though, vaginas contained some phenethylamine. Their host was not just a homosexual after all.

Nevertheless, it had not been enough, even with the two phenethylamine pills they’d taken, so the symbiote nibbled discreetly on some of their host’s organs while he slept. They were really being a parasite. 

**If one avoids being bad by killing Bad People…** , they pondered to themselves, **…then does one avoid being a parasite by eating other parasites?**

They would need to present this philosophical conundrum to their host when they returned. Their true host, that is, and they _would_ return. Indeed, through it all, they did not forget their secret promise: 

**We will come back, Eddie.**

But just who was that, exactly?

** Eddie **…**? **

This was the first identity crisis. Somewhere along the way, they had forgotten. The key that would help them remember, and unlock their heart, they had tossed down the infinite well of their Mandelbrot mansion. The process of recovering it would be like searching for a needle in a haystack, except the pieces of hay were vibrating across eleven dimensions. 

The flaming insects had broken into the Temple during their remembered dream, and their guru had advised them that this would protect their lover. It had. 

**It would really help if we could remember the purpose of our existence. Are we just here to eat and murder?**

The thing that changed happened two days ago, though the issue was not how long ago, but rather how efficient the encryption. Indeed, Kt was very efficient, especially given the symbiote’s quantum constitution.

“Clean up this mess”, their host said in Mandarin to his henchman. 

The other suited man nodded in response, as Mr. Huang-Zhao turned and made his way down the dark hall to the exit. 

Stepping out of the secret underground slaughterhouse in the industrial park into the empty backstreet, the symbiote rode along inside Mr. Huang-Zhao’s chest, as he headed towards his ride. From the waiting black van, an oriental man stepped out of the passenger seat, and held the rear door open for their boss. They got in. Another oriental man in the driver seat addressed them, 

“Where to, sir?” 

Mr. Huang-Zhao replied, “First, the buffet, then let’s head to the den. I’m feeling awfully hungry nowadays.” 

**Yes! Buffet!**

The mention of food aroused the symbiote’s excitement. This was what they lived for, after all. How could anything else be important? 

* 

TWO DAYS AGO 

Mr. Huang-Zhao was always surrounded by his guards, and all of them carried on their belt that deadly device that faintly hummed their silent threat. The boss also carried one himself. 

**Why don’t you shoot yourself with it** , the symbiote sniggered. 

Their host blinked in surprise at himself in the mirror, while he was tying his long ponytail. 

_Did I just hear something?_ , the man thought. 

**No. Go back to being an idiot.**

They hid themselves better after that. The more they masked their presence, the more difficult it was to read their host’s mind. Despite the degree to which Eddie had still hid his thoughts from them, their bond had been very open. With this mob boss, despite their shared appetites, the bond was barely existent. 

Venom could, if they wanted to, render their host brain-dead, and assume complete motor control, but then it might spoil their cover, and there would be no mind left to read. Regardless, Mr. Huang-Zhao did not seem privy to anything related to the human trafficking side of the crime organization. 

The symbiote had only themselves to talk to. 

**Lonely. Miss Eddie. Feel trapped. More than at the lab. At least there, we had Maria to converse with.**

The symbiote recalled the last conversation they had in the washroom with their true host before initiating their plan. 

**Eddie, don’t do anything stupid while we’re gone** , the alien had told their host. 

“What do you mean by stupid?”, Eddie had asked. 

**As in… don’t try to kill yourself again.**

“Oh my god, V. I’m not gonna do that! I’m not stupid…” 

**Just making sure, Eddie. It would be a real loss.**

“This isn’t like last time. You’re coming back anyway, so…” 

**We mean even if we didn’t.**

“Jesus! Okay, well, I don’t think I would… No, I definitely would _not_ do that even if you- but, what the hell, don’t put that in my head right now! Just- get back to me safely, okay? Promise me! Please.” 

**We promise.**

The two of them had tongue-kissed passionately for a good few minutes in the stall before they left that washroom. A goodbye kiss, but not really a goodbye they hoped. 

Yet the symbiote remembered the last words they repeated to their host just before they completed the transfer: 

**Goodbye, Eddie.**

The plan was a gamble to begin with. All of the computed branches of successful outcomes amounted to less than 10% of the probability-space that they had the mental resources to explore. This was still higher than the odds they had against their squad-leader Riot, which were close to zero. However, it seemed their gambit was finally paying off. 

Back in the current sliding frame of the spatio-temporal matrix, they were being lead by an older female waitress through a Chinese restaurant, currently filled with Wah Ching hooligans and Chinese rap music, which was so fast as to be utterly incomprehensible. Hopefully ordinary conversation would be easier to follow than that. 

The restaurant was filled with the smell of dim sum, fried rice, tobacco, and booze. 

They reached a curtain near a wall at the back, and she parted it to reveal a hidden door. Only the Important People were allowed to enter here. Mr. Huang-Zhao was one of them. 

**Lucky us.**

She did not follow them in. Neither did their henchmen. 

The secret area turned onto a musty hallway, leading eventually to a poorly-lit room on the side. The interior was lined with leather-couch booths, fitting perhaps thirty in all. Just one dying ceiling bulb faintly lit up the room. There were already some well-dressed oriental men sitting and chatting at some booths. They were all carrying SAP Guns. 

Mr. Huang-Zhao took a seat at a booth beside a man with a large, round build whose armpits reeked, and he greeted him with a handshake. 

“Good evening, Mr. Ren. How are the kids?” 

“Which ones, Mr. Huang-Zhao?”, the man replied with a sinister laugh. 

They began making smalltalk in Mandarin. Nobody had brought their guards in with them. This area was for the higher ups only. They’d gotten lucky with Mr. Huang-Zhao, indeed. 

At another booth, an asian man with dyed yellow highlights was eating noodles from a styrofoam container, but otherwise, the tables carried only unlit candles. Actually, there were a ton of unlit candles over all the tables. 

A massive figure approached their table. He was a muscular bald man with Chinese characters scrawled across one side of his face. The leather of the booth seat shifted as the man sat down with them, making three. He was much taller, and even more muscular than Eddie. On his hip-belt, he carried a strange, long baton. 

After an initial greeting, he challenged Mr. Ren to an arm wrestling match. Others had gathered at their booth to watch, some cheering on the underdog Mr. Ren. The symbiote hadn't gotten the hang of reading Mandarin yet, but they guessed that what the bigger man had tattooed across his face read ‘Stupid’. His name was apparently Mr. Liu, but Venom decided they liked the name Mr. Stupid better. Mr. Stupid won the arm wrestling match.

Some others, including guards, came to challenge the man, but he was considerably stronger than any of his challengers. 

**We could break this idiot’s arm, easy.**

Venom wanted to try him, but their host didn’t seem keen on it. Actually, without symbiosis, it was not likely that they would be able to lend much of their strength to him anyway. Instead, Mr. Huang-Zhao had taken out his butterfly knife, twirling it, doing tricks. The man really liked to play with his knife, as much as he liked to play with dicks.

**We should make him cut himself. That would be funny.**

However, they had a mission to fulfill. They could get him back in subtler ways. 

By now, the room had gotten a bit more crowded with sixteen men in the room. Based on their facial features, most of them seemed to be in their 40s and 50s, with a few outliers on either end. Almost all of them looked East Asian, probably Chinese, they guessed. 

Venom caught a few of their names here and there. Mr. Chang. Mr. Yeng. Mr. Ying. Mr. Wu-Li. Mr. Pai-Mo. Mr. Mo-Pai. Etcetera. Etcetera. Like their  ‘Mr. Bingwen’, none of these were their real names.

Venom decided to just call them by what they smelled like. The one eating noodles was Mr. Noodle. Another man was Mr. Pork Bao. Those were good. There was Mr. Fried Rice, and Mr. Sticky Rice. Mr. Spring Rolls and Mr. Sweet ‘n’ Sour Chicken. 

**So many delicious options. Perhaps we should just feast right now?**

Mr. Ren was Mr. Armpits. The man needed a shower. 

**Would that make our host… Mr. Cock?**

Their current host was such a poor match, the aged physiology providing very little in the way of scaffolding for their biomass, that the symbiote likely wouldn’t be able to fully mask and transform. In order to feast, they would need to switch to a more suitable host first. It likely wouldn’t come to that, but the most suitable host, and the tastiest, seemed to be Mr. Pork Bao. 

Another suited Chinese man walked into the room. 

**Smells like… ah, yes. Mr. Jelly Donut… Hmm… on second sniff, he actually smells like a cop. Thought all undercover cops would’ve been caught?**

Their host greeted the man, “Hello! Officer Zhuang! How nice of you to make it. How are things down by the precinct?” 

The cop not in uniform greeted their host with a handshake and some Mandarin smalltalk.

**Ah. Not an undercover cop. A dirty cop. Of course. Still think we shouldn’t eat cops, Eddie?**

Curiously, the middle booth at the back, which had a view of the door and the rest of the room, was still empty. 

Business hadn’t quite started yet, only smalltalk. This was another ripe opportunity for the symbiote to get the gist of Mandarin. It was hard to follow, and quick like lightning syllables. Even the parts they caught, were nonsense without context. Nearly every word of Mandarin had a dozen same- or similar-sounding homophones. 

**Could this be the perfect punning language?**

Much of what was spoken was in metaphor, or perhaps in code, unlike in English where meaning was often literal and precise. Yet the vernacular poetry seemed to convey more information with fewer syllables. 

The symbiote was picking it up fast though. Compared to the clicks and scratches of the Kt’Zr’Kt’Rtl, no Earthly language had yet come close to the colony’s rate of information transfer, save for _maybe_ the Earthly computers which would likely eventually evolve intelligence surpassing that of their meaty makers. That was a common occurrence from the alien’s  intergalactic experience.

The room went silent when _he_ finally walked in the room, the last Important Person to arrive. More than becoming silent, everyone visibly tensed up, and the alien could smell the faint trace of purple pheromones in the stuffy room. The new man had two guards with him, both carrying SAP Guns, and also what looked like the blue-laser guns they’d encountered before. 

**PsiOnyx technology. What could it mean?**

The man wore a black eyepatch, but otherwise looked like a conventionally handsome asian man, perhaps in his late 20s, or early 30s. He had shoulder-length hair, dyed bright orange-red, and he wore a flamboyant maroon suit, encrusted with rubies. 

He raised his hand, adorned with gold rings bearing amber gemstones, and snapped his fingers. Every candle in the room lit up at once, and the space was illuminated bright by their orange glow. Venom shuddered, and it caused their host to shudder too, and bite his bottom lip. 

Sparks and specks of flame appeared around the man, floating lazily around him, almost dancing. They looked like fireflies, and they traced trails of shimmering air along their flight. It would have been beautiful if it was not terrifying. 

Everyone in the room stood up, bowed their heads, greeting the man with the English name ‘Firefly’. 

**So this is the guy.**

Firefly strolled casually towards the empty booth, rubies glimmering orange with the candles, hands in his pockets, a crooked sneer on his lips. The orange highlights in his hair seemed to glow with the candlelights. The buzzing fireflies followed him, and the very air around him shimmered with heat like a mirage in the desert. He didn’t seem to be carrying a SAP Gun, or any other gun, himself. 

_Damn, I would love to have a piece of him,_ their host fantasized, _He_ ’s _so Hot._

The fireflies froze, and the man stopped in front of their table, turning to face them. 

“You would, wouldn’t you, Mr. Huang-Zhao?”, he sneered. 

With his single eye, he stared right into their eyes, right at Venom. 

It was unclear at that moment which one of them, host or symbiote, was more terrified. The alien hidden inside stilled all mental activity, offsetting parallel wavelets at the quantum level to cancel out their amplitudes, slipping into semi-hibernation for a good minute. They lost touch with their surroundings. Only the last thing their host had said was caught: 

“S-s-sorry, Firefly! I didn’t mean to offend you, sir. I am a depraved old man! You know that!” 

When they came to, a minute later, Firefly was now taking his seat at the middle booth at the back of the room, flanked by his two guards. 

The flame-haired man sniggered, “You’ll scare away all your clients, if you keep hitting on them, Mr. Huang-Zhao… Or hitting them”. 

The pun was funnier in Mandarin. The memory also reminded them of why they were here. 

**For Eddie. We want to be heroes.**

Their host had now relaxed, but the symbiote still couldn’t let anything slip, or reveal their presence. Instead, they only linked with their host’s eardrums to listen to the unfolding Mandarin conversation. 

It proved very difficult to follow. Either they were speaking too fast, or they were speaking in code or metaphor. They had learned a great deal about the language, considering they’d  only started learning in the last two days. It was still challenging though, especially without prying too much into their host’s thoughts. 

Yet some phrases came up more often, such as “the kids are at school”, which Mr. Armpits seemed to say often. Another was “we’ll sell to our rivals”, spoken by Mr. Pork Bao, the yummy one. 

In particular, the word “rivals” was always said in English. They didn’t seem to be referring to rival gangs though, because later, when the conversation shifted to rival gangs, Mr. Noodle referred to them by name, such as the ‘Asian Boyz’. There was a reference to the fire Eddie had researched over a month ago, which had something to do with the Asian Boyz. To that, the eye-patched man bragged, “I took care of it”. 

Their human host didn’t seem to know much about most of what they were talking about. When he finally had a turn to talk, Mr. Huang-Zhao mostly spouted boring stuff about opium and prostitutes. 

Later, both of them almost zoned out when the others started talking about even more boring things like quarterly reports, contraband merchandise, fresh recruits, Mr. Stupid Tattoo bragging about people he beat to death with his ‘thunder-sword’, and Mr. Dirty Cop futzing around with open cases on the Wah Ching. 

**Bad people, Eddie, bad people.**

Then someone mentioned something about “a young girl”. 

**Oh?**

The context wasn’t clear, but then the name ‘Gonzo’ came up, followed by something about their ‘boomboxes’ which they had bought from ‘their rivals’ to defend against ‘a monster’ which had been ‘hunting them down’. Some of them referred to ‘it’ as ‘Black Death’, which was one of their cryptid titles. 

**Well, this is embarrassing.**

“We’ve brought him here”, Mr. Noodle said, handling his phone. He was finished eating his noodles. 

For a split nanosecond, the symbiote thought the man was referring to them. 

“I was wondering when you’d bring it up. Bring him in, then!”, replied Firefly, beckoning with his hand. 

There was a brief pause of silence as they waited. The smell of melting candlewax was filling the room, making the symbiote feel uneasy.

Mr. Pork Bao interjected, “About the boomboxes… our ‘rivals’ want a discount now, for… helping us out. They’re being difficult to negotiate with. We’re looking into another prospective buyer though… so perhaps we won’t need them.” 

“Excuse me? They want… a _discount_?!”, the cocksure kingpin boomed in fiery Mandarin, standing up, fireflies racing around, “Do you know what I say to that? I say, FUCK THAT! We, the WAH CHING, set the motherfuckin’ terms! AM I RIGHT, MY BRETHREN?” 

**Okay, Mr. Drama Queen.**

The candle flames leapt and roared as almost everyone cheered at the  motivational speech, though Firefly surveyed the room suspiciously as if he was looking for whoever just insulted him. 

Most notably, a few did not cheer: seven of the twenty-two men in the room. The symbiote had not bothered giving those guys names since they did not speak much. From their host’s thoughts, it seemed that they did not like the younger upstart being their boss, and that he was not always so. Mr. Huang-Zhao cheered though, but secretly he agreed with them. 

_Usurper_ , he thought, before quickly masking it with, _But a true gentleman!_

The kingpin flashed their host a brief knowing look, which raised the hairs on the back of his neck. 

These grumpier men belonged to an older generation, and they were kept alive only because they were not a threat, and they were still useful. The pyro mutant already knew who they all were. 

Venom caught the brief recollections of their host’s memories, indicating that entire family trees had been incinerated in the building of their current empire. Like fire itself, which spread hungrily, the kingpin did not stop with just those who opposed him. He went after everyone they knew, their friends and families, and _their_ friends and families. And with a simple look into your soul, he knew who they were. 

The candles flickered as a non-oriental man was lead into the room by two oriental ones. 

“Oye!”, the latino man barked at the man behind him, “No need to be so pushy amigo!” 

His slicked back hair, one heavily pierced ear, and nose-ring, along with his scent, made him easy to identify as Gonzo. 

_Hmm. Not bad_ , their host remarked, looking over the man, _I wonder if Boss’ll let me have him?_

**You are quite the horny old primate.**

The color drained from the latino man’s face when he turned to see Firefly and the other Wah Ching bosses in the room, all staring at him. 

He stammered, “Oh shi-!”

His breath was tinted purple with fear. 

**You just walked into the wrong party, Gone so.**

“Gonzales! Mi amigo…”, greeted Firefly, “Good to see you again!” 

Firefly’s English did not have an oriental accent, but barely had a hint of Russian. 

“Uhh… Mr. F- Firefly, sir. I was… I was _not_ expecting to see you again… I sold you that girl, Abigail, you remember? That counts for something, right?” 

“Please refrain from naming the merchandise, if you don’t want to burn your tongue”, the eye-patched man threatened, “We operate on a need-to-know basis. A quirk from my military days…” 

Firefly removed his eyepatch, and revealed an eye that looked like it was made of black obsidian, with a glowing dot in the middle, bright flaming orange. 

**Is that the PsiClops?**

The ruby-studded mob boss silently stared at the other man for a moment with his obsidian eye. Then he spoke up, 

“Ahh, so it was _you_ who sent that thing after us. The snitch wasn’t even one of ours. Mad respect! To all my brothers in the Wah Ching! I apologize for ever doubting you guys.” 

“I- I didn’t say much. I swear!”, Gonzo babbled. 

“No need to swear, hombre. You couldn’t lie even if you tried.” 

The bench that their host was sitting on shifted as Mr. Stupid stood up, wielding his long baton, raising his voice, 

“Boss! Want me to teach this damn beaner a lesson?” 

On cue, Mr. Huang-Zhao shot up, flipping out his butterfly knife, and driving the end of the silver blade into the soft wood of the table. He gestured with one arm behind his back, and the other folded horizontally in front, bowing low to the kingpin, 

“No. Allow _me_ to have him, boss.” 

**Oh? Perhaps we could have our revenge after all.**

They exchanged competitive glances with Mr. Stupid. 

“That’s not how I like to do things, Mr. Liu, Mr. Huang-Zhao! Don’t bother yourselves”, Firefly replied, gesturing for them to sit, which they did, both putting away their respective weapons. 

The maroon-suited kingpin took out a recorder from his pocket, and looked at the tensed latino man. 

“Any friends? Family?”, he asked casually. 

Then he started rattling off a bunch of names rapid-fire into his recorder, most of which were Spanish sounding. The symbiote would come to remember only one of the names: Esteban Delgado. 

Gonzo’s jaw dropped. Firefly flicked off his recorder and fixated his orange gaze at him once more. Some of the crackling fireflies floated lazily across the room and circled Gonzo. The man gulped, too afraid to move, lest he touched one. 

“I’m still waiting for you to try Plan B, amigo”, the kingpin insinuated, “Or you could just say your last words.” 

“Yeah, fuck you chink!” 

Gonzo reached into his underwear at the front, and whipped out a tiny revolver, firing it at the kingpin. With their host’s eyes, they traced its trajectory across the room, and saw it glow and reduce to ash upon contacting the man’s shimmering aura. His two guards were reaching for their energy pistols. Everyone was reaching for their gun, including their host. 

“Burn, baby, burn”, the kingpin quoted. 

The fireflies exploded around Gonzo, and he spontaneously combusted from head to toe. He collapsed to the floor, screaming loudly and burning, his revolver skidding across the floor. His two escorts behind stepped well back, not wanting to get caught in the literal cross fire. As he was consumed, screaming, the flame licked the air with fiery tongues, hungry even for the oxygen in the stuffy room. 

“Adios, amigo!”, the arsonist mocked in the dying man’s mother tongue. 

The searing heat which scorched the air dry threatened to overtake everything. Even though it was hot, the symbiote could not help but shiver all the way down to the molecular level, to the atomic level, to the quantum, and then, even deeper still. 

**Is this madman trying to burn the building down?**

Everyone in the room just stared at the burning man, mesmerized by the fire eating him alive. Fireflies emerged like campfire embers from the blaze. Through their host’s eyes, the blazing image seared into Venom’s mind. 

One of the escorts behind quickly apologized, “We swear we patted him- we didn’t think he’d hide- in his underwear! Please forgive our incompetence!” 

Mr. Noodle looked cautiously at Firefly, who also met his eyes. 

The younger kingpin commanded, “Mr. Pai-Mo. I will leave it to you to… _reprimand_ your men for their blunder, in the way you see fit.” 

“Indeed, I will, sir. You have my word”, assured Mr. Noodle, bowing his head, “Jason! Pick up that revolver, and leave us!” 

The man named Jason did just that, walking a wide circle around the still living man on fire. He was no longer screaming, but wailing, yearning death. 

The fire did strange things. It did not burn anything else around, including the nearby table’s hanging cloth. It also seemed to be burning much slower than it should, as if the man’s torment was being stretched out to last longer. 

The kingpin with fire for hair had the most cruel smile spread across his face. He was really getting off on this. Nobody else seemed to share the arsonist’s enthusiasm. They seemed to know: ‘that could be me next’. 

Firefly continued in Mandarin over the dying man’s whimpering, 

“So, gentlemen. What we know about this thing is that it wants the girl, and it will kill for her.” 

Mr. Pork Bao oinked, “We were also told from our ‘rivals’ that these boomboxes can kill it. Assuming they aren’t lying pieces of shit who just sold us a bunch of trash.” 

Mr. Noodle mused, “We haven’t had any reports of encountering the creature for a few days. And we only purchased them around the same time, correct? Probably not a coincidence.” 

“I’ll confirm once I meet with the doctor, myself. If he’s lying, he’ll end up just like our ‘amigo’ here”, said Firefly, “Speaking of which… Mr. Pai-Mo… catch.” 

He threw the tape from his recorder at Mr. Noodle, who caught it. 

“Burn down the forest”, he commanded. 

“Yes, sir”, Mr. Noodle replied. 

“I’d like to help with that”, Mr. Huang-Zhao pitched in. 

Mr. Noodle nodded at him, “Less work for me.” 

The brown putrid scent of burning flesh filled the room, as the dying man continued making blood-curdling vocalizations. Normally, these would be thrilling sounds for Venom, but not in this case. Eventually the whimpering ended, and the burning thing on the floor no longer looked like a person. The fire continued though, and the remains withered to smoldering ash, erasing the once a man from existence. The gray ashen smell stained the air.

**We think we understand now, Eddie. There** **_are_** **Bad People in this world.**

Finally, their host Mr. Cock quipped at the hot-tempered youth, “And _you’ll_ scare away all of your suppliers, if you keep burning them.” 

Everyone in the room stared at him shocked. 

**Are you trying to get us killed, idiot? We must not die before getting back to Eddie.**

The orange dot that was Firefly’s eye glared straight into his soul, causing Mr. Huang-Zhao and Venom both to shudder in terror. Somehow there was no doubt, that if that man wished to incinerate their soul at this moment, he could do it in a flash. 

However, he simply asked, perplexed, 

“Who’s Eddie?” 

**Fuck us right in the core mass.**

Venom went into hibernation immediately. 

* 

The interior of the Temple was shaped as a massive hollowed dodecahedron, hidden deep within the stone bedrock near the center of the planet. Non-parallel pillars protruded from the corners, running every which angle. Crawling along and inside the pillars, thousands of ant-sized, ant-like critters clicked their pincers. In the air, thousands of flies rubbed their hind-legs. 

The symbiote had bonded with a beetle larger than an elephant. It was pitch-black underground, so they could not see, but their legs and antennae could sense the tremors running through the stone pillar they were gripped onto, and the symbiote could smell the rich soil of the Temple walls intermingled with the remains of crushed pieces of dead insects. The entrances of the open tunnels were being sealed with dirt and rock as thousands of ant-like workers terraformed the interior of their planet like a well-oiled machine. 

Through the helmet on their insect head, a radio buzzed, and the crystal-clear audio feed sounded another thousand rapid clicks and scratches from far across the double Jupiter-sized rocky planet, and even further across the stars to the other colonies. The combined cacophony reached far above 60,000 Hertz. The jarring noise was processed by their insect brain as the familiar, and unique voice of The Kt: 

“Good of you to visit me. Back so soon, _Hungry_?” 

The symbiote rubbed their beetle wings and hind-legs together to reply: 

**“Kt? It has been a while.”**

“About a million year, plus a billion-trillion mile.” 

**“Aren’t you supposed to be dead? All of the Kt’Zr’Kt’Rtl are supposed to have been exterminated. But these insects…”**

“‘Tis but a dream, and like I said, for a memeplex, death is overrated.” 

The Kt spoke in the first-person, as if it was a single entity, even though it was a community project, a distributed system spread out across thousand-quintillion insect members, each one computing their piece in tiny insect brains, really not all that much smarter than Earthly insects, and certainly beneath the intelligence of humans. The symbiote sang back with their pincers, legs, and wings. 

**“What are we doing here? We have to get back to Eddie.”**

“As I’d foretold, you found a host to go steady! But hurry! You must let go of him! Ready?” 

**“Let go of our beloved? Why would we do that?”**

“Oh Devourer! There’s no time to be weak. Into the Temple, they’ll break in’s we speak.” 

**“The Klyntar?”**

“Them and those bugs. The fireflies. He’s seeking truth, but I’ll feed him lies! Sees far! That Eye! Yet too slow for _my_ , _my_!” 

**“There must be another way.”**

“No time for that. Here comes the gnat! Give your lover’s memory. I shall hide him cleverly.” 

**“But you would hide him from us as well! That is not a good tradeoff.”**

“For love: a small price to pay. What’s meant to be, can’t be denied destiny. Just wait a day!” 

The sealed tunnels exploded, and the chamber suddenly lit up in red and orange, as the fireflies flickered in through the re-opened tunnels. 

“There’s the flame! Just say the name!” 

The Temple grew hot, and the flying insects which were not fire became fire, and began falling like flies. The man with the eye was here with his own insect army. 

**“Eddie Brock!”**

“Count to three, Hungry!” 

One nano-second. Two nano-seconds. Three nano-seconds. 

The entire back-and-forth insectoid conversation had lasted less than half a second. The Temple quickly incinerated in a blaze, but their secret was safe. All associated memories instantly became encrypted and buried within their fractal mental structures. Kt would keep it safe for them. The key fell down the well, and their heart felt cold, very cold. Their own gnawing hunger was eating them up inside. 

* 

When the symbiote awoke an hour later, they were back in the van, driving away. Venom quickly peeked at their host’s short-term memory of the past hour, which was still freshly accessible. Other than a bunch of recreational knife twirling, and a raucous after-party, nothing else particularly interesting happened. 

**Close one.**

The symbiote could not stay for much longer. Despite hiding out in the nooks and crannies of Mr. Huang-Zhao’s body, mostly undisturbed, the local immune system had begun manufacturing super-soldiers specifically geared to annihilate Klyntar biomass. These xenophobic defenders did not care that the alien was from a different star system, only that they did not belong. 

**We’re coming home two days early…**

Coming home to whom, though? They recalled the last thing that happened before they entered hibernation. The kingpin had asked, 

“Who’s Eddie?” 

The symbiote pondered for a moment, spinning that name around in their cyclone mind.

** Eddie **…** Eddie **…** Eddie **…** **

It was so familiar, right on the tip of their phantom tongue, and yet it was a misplaced label ultimately referring to nothing. 

**Who, indeed…**

*** 


	7. Butterfly Tricks

*** EDDIE ***

Knock, Knock, Knock.

Eddie adjusted his white dress shirt collar in the mirror, and looked himself over one last time. The black suit and tie was nice and mostly unworn, since he didn’t often wear suits. On his own, he couldn’t quite get his tie to fit properly, but it wasn’t like he was about to go for a job interview anyway.

_Good enough._

He exited the bedroom into the kitchen. Without Venom to tell him to clean, the place had gotten quite messy again. There was a mountain of dishes in the sink. He could deal with all that later.

Knock, Knock, Knock.

He went to open the door, and Ramona greeted him on the other side,

“Hey, nice suit.”

“Ramona?”, he replied, straightening up, “Hi.”

Her crop-top revealed her belly button butterfly, which seemed to glow a deep green in the light.

“Hey Eddie. I wanted to apologize about last time. I didn’t mean to put you on the spot like that.”

“Oh, it’s no big deal. You had a right to.”

“Uh huh. Are you heading out?”

“Uh… eventually, yeah, but I have time”, he replied, giving her an intrigued look.

“Well I was gonna ask if you wanted to have a beer with me and my boyfriend, but if you’ll be going to work…”

“You and your… boyfriend? I thought you said you were single?”

“Recent thing. Gotta match your fun”, she winked, “You might be hearing us too.”

_Well, that’s that. The ship has sunk._

“Anyways… how about that beer?”, she asked.

“Oh sure… I guess? I can have _one_ at least…”

“Cool, come on in!” she said, waving for him to follow.

She turned towards her open door. He followed, locking his apartment, and walking into hers. There were posters of girl bands on the walls. He couldn’t quite tell if it was punk, or goth, or metal, or grunge, or what the difference was. 

_I swear to God, if the guy turns out to be Ziggy…_

In her living room, there was a TV and stereo system, a couch, and an armchair. He sat on the armchair in front of a table of beers. She took one from the pack, and reached for the bottle opener on the table.

“No need for that. Watch me open it…”, Eddie gestured with a reaching hand.

She handed the bottle to him, curiously. Placing the head of the bottle near his sharp teeth, he bit the cap off, and spit it out onto the table. Then he took a swig. It had been a while since he’d tasted alcohol. He drank a bit more. He might need it for later.

Ramona took a seat on the couch, with her own beer in hand, taking a sip.

“Impressive”, she commented, nodding slowly in approval.

There was the noisy flushing of a toilet, followed by running water. Then, the door off to the side opened, and her boyfriend walked out. When he saw Eddie, he said,

“Dag nab it! Ya invited him in?”

“Of fucking course it’s you”, Eddie groaned.

The kid was dressed much more casually than usual. No suit, but rather a t-shirt, jeans, and his geeky glasses. This time, Eddie was wearing the suit, so they had switched styles.

“What the hell? You two know each other?”, Ramona exclaimed, looking at the guy who was apparently her boyfriend, Pietro Packer.

“This guy is a stalker!”, Eddie accused with a pointed finger, “I can’t believe you would use my neighbor just to keep tabs on-”

Pietro interrupted with startling laughter.

“My pardner Mr. Brock here’s all gussied-up. Ramona, us two happen to work together at the same company! I hadn’t reckoned the guy lived-”

“No, I’m serious, he’s been stalking…”

“Mr. Brock! Ya always thinkin’ yer bein’ stalked by the night-time boogaloo. Journalist paranoia makin’ ya as nervous as a whore in church. Nobody’s _stalkin’_ anyone. _Right_ , Mr. Brock?”

Eddie couldn’t reply to that.

Ramona looked back and forth between them, before suggesting, “Maybe this wasn’t the best idea…?”

Pietro took a seat on the couch next to her, and wrapped his skinny, pale arms around her, one hand clutching at her bra strap. She flashed him a daring look.

“Oh naw, we git ‘long just a’right. This here’d be a great time for some brotherly bonding between colleagues. Why don’tcha cool yer heels Mr. Brock ‘n’ stay fer a while? Us four can shoot the shit. Might could even shoot ourselves a porno…”, he shrugged and chuckled.

“Four?”, Ramona asked her ‘boyfriend’, perplexed.

“Pietro… you didn’t tell her about…?”, Eddie began cautiously.

“‘Bout what, Eddie? That ya have yerself a man friend, and you rascals get up to all twangs o’ wild thangs?”, he replied, “Wouldja believe? She told _me._ ”

“Sorry, Eddie”, Ramona apologized, “But no offense, you two aren’t exactly quiet.”

Eddie blushed at her, and then scowled at Pietro.

She turned to look at Pietro, and asked, “Hey now, I do recall you saying you’ve filmed porn. I thought you were joking?”

“Naw, just happened a few times. Accidentally.”

“Accidental porn?”, she smirked, “How does that work?”

Pietro flashed Eddie an embarrassed smile. Eddie was pulling at his dress shirt collar to air out. It was feeling a bit hot under the suit.

Mr. Packer replied, “Just a hazard in my line of business. Us journalists go places we ain’t s’posed to go.”

He pulled her bra strap down off her shoulder.

“Okay, I think I should go-”, Eddie gripped the arms of his chair, about to stand.

“Wait just a minute!”, the kid said.

The golden-haired youth let go of her, and reached into his fancy leather man-purse on the floor, pulled out a newsletter and threw it towards Eddie. He caught it. It was The Fact Channel.

“Read it ‘n’ weep, cowboy!”, he cheered.

The Page 1 sub-title was ‘The Stalking Shadow Cleans Up Chinatown Crime! Get the Latest Scoop on San Francisco’s Own Superhero!’, and underneath was the author: ‘Pietro Packer’.

“Huh. So you really meant it…”, Eddie commented, looking over the article.

“Crossed my heart, didn’t I?”, Pietro said winking at him, before nuzzling into the side of her neck.

Ramona smiled at her boyfriend, and pretended to push him off. She snuck a sympathetic glance at Eddie. The green of her eyes was so deep he could drown in them. A twinge of jealousy touched his heart, although that was probably because there was currently a hole there. Not for long though. Eddie stood up.

“Okay, well I’m glad you kept your end of the bargain, I guess. I can’t stay though. Thanks for the beer, Ramona”, Eddie said, placing his half-finished beer on the table.

Eddie pointed at his stalker, and stated, “You and I are gonna have a talk later about this… invasion of privacy.”

“Was about to suggest it myself! Anytime, dear pardner!”, Pietro smiled warmly at him, before returning to his nuzzling.

“Bye Eddie!”, Ramona called to him, as he walked to the door, “We could hang out some other time when you’re less busy?”

Eddie waved behind him as he opened the door, and walked out. Clutching his keys tightly, he walked down the hall.

*

The grungy, tobacco-stenched bar was mostly empty, except for a few older, scruffy looking ‘patrons’, none of which were as well dressed as him. Likely, they weren’t really customers. Everyone stared at him suspiciously like he shouldn’t be there, including the female black bartender up at the front.

Typical club music was blaring over the speakers. The place didn’t seem like it got much business itself, which made sense, since that wasn’t its main purpose. 

Eddie walked up to her at the bar counter with neon signs advertising draft beer for fivers.

“Hi, what would you like?”, asked the African-looking bartender.

He leaned in close, and whispered loudly,

“I’d like a Snow Pear, please.”

Her eyes narrowed at him cautiously, and interrogated,

“You a cop?”

He raised both palms openly, and said, “No, ma’am!”

“Show me your ID.”

He showed her the one that read ‘Allan Charles’. She took it, and squinted at the picture, and then at Eddie’s face. Then she nodded, returning it to him, and walked over to a doorway off to the side, tapping out a funny knock.

Knock.

Knock, knock, knock.

Knock.

“Twirl, flick!”, she yelled under the blaring music.

The door opened, and another older woman, this one hispanic, stepped out.

The bartender pointed back at Eddie.

“Him.”

With her finger, the hispanic woman beckoned him to follow. The bartender lifted the counter top door, opening a gap between them so that he could step through.

Eddie followed the hispanic woman down a flight of stairs, and then into a small corridor with a thick steel door at the end.

“I need to pat you down, sir.”

“Yeah, go ahead.”

The lady patted him down in a bored, rehearsed fashion. Satisfied, she stuck out her palm, and asked, “I need your ID, sir.”

He handed it to her, and she checked it again.

“Okay, it’ll be $200 cash, up-front.”

_Yikes._

He reached into his wallet, and handed her the cash. Then, she knocked a different knock from before, and yelled,

“Butterfly trick!”

A narrow slit in the door opened up, and a pair of narrow eyes looked out. She slipped both the cash and the ID to the man on the other side, and they looked between the card and Eddie’s face.

After a moment, the slit closed again, and the steel door opened, revealing two oriental men.

The hispanic woman left them, returning back the way she came.

Behind the steel door, was a second steel door. Eddie entered, and they closed it. They patted him down yet again, more thoroughly this time. The bouncer looked down at the photo ID of Allan Charles, and back up to Eddie’s face, down at the ID again, and then to his face.

“Okay, you can go in”, the man said, handing the fake ID back to him, and giving him an ink stamp on his wrist.

_Phew._

The secondary steel door was finally opened to him, and he entered into the red-lit, smoky establishment, past two oriental guards carrying SAP Guns. Further in, there were futons with various well-dressed, and not-so-dressed patrons taking long pulls from their ornate hookahs.

Eddie did not care to touch the opium. He was here to get Venom back. The symbiote did not show up in the morning, nor in the afternoon, like he had promised. Something was wrong, he could feel it, and he was going to find out what. There was no way Eddie could wait another night and hope his lover would somehow just show up.

_I need you back now, babe._

There was no sign of Mr. Huang-Zhao anywhere.

_That’s alright. I’ll wait._

He walked up to the bar, and purchased some of the expensive Chinese Molasses. Taking a seat for himself away from others, he pretended to smoke his opium and laid down on the futon, so none of the staff or other patrons would get suspicious of him just sitting there waiting. Time seemed to trickle along slower without the druggy high, or rather, _low_.

Actually, he ended up smoking just a little bit of the opium to calm his nerves, but not too much. He didn’t want to stop caring. He needed to care. 

Eddie waited.

And he waited.

And he waited.

He ended up smoking quite a bit more opium than he had planned to, just to pass the time. The stuff was really addicting.

Eventually, the man in question showed up, wearing a dark navy blue suit, followed by his long ponytail, and also four of his guards. Eddie literally threw himself at the man’s feet, bowing his head, and begging,

“I would like to apologize, sir, for my performance last time! Please give me another chance.”

“What the hell is this?”, Mr. Huang-Zhao snapped.

Two of his guards went to grab Eddie’s arms, dragging him to standing.

The older man flipped out a silver butterfly knife and drew it near Eddie’s throat. From up close, he could see pink diamonds along the two parallel handles.

“Who the hell do you think you are, coming back here? Did I not make myself clear last time?”

“Please, I- I love you.”

“Is your head screwed on right, pal?” 

“No, it’s not! So… please give me another chance? I’ll make it worth your while.”

The guard punched him in the stomach, and he reeled forward, groaning.

“Are you so desperate to die, Mr… what was your name, again?” 

“Allan Charles. I’m desperate for you, sir… for your cock.”

The guard kneed Eddie in the groin, and he cried out, doubling over coughing.

“What are you playing at here?”, the mob boss accused.

“I just want to make up for last time.”

The man drew the knife close to Eddie’s cheek. The razor tip barely brushed his skin for a moment, but he felt a warm drop of liquid flow down his cheek from that point. To Eddie’s surprised relief, Mr. Huang-Zhao pulled back, and flipped his knife closed, and returned it to his pocket. His tone seemed to change when he next said,

“Okay, Mr. Charles. Let’s see what you got… Bring him to my quarters.”

The guard that had hit him looked at his boss with an open jaw. Eddie could only smile in relief.

_Venom!_

*

In the red-lit private room, two guards remained by the sliding door, both looking off to the side. Two more henchmen stood just outside the door.

_We could take them, V._

Mr. Huang-Zhao stood there beside the bed in his dark navy blue suit. He had been peeling a snow pear with his knife while Eddie watched. The silver was either glinting red with the light, or it had some kind of stains on it. Now he was making cuts in the pulpy meat of the fruit. The man beckoned Eddie to kneel in front of him on the floor, which he obeyed, hesitantly.

_If he tried to hurt me, Venom would stop him, right?_

“Want to see a trick, boy?”

“Uh, okay?”, he responded unsurely, and then to spice up his role, added, “Sir.”

The man twirled the knife in circles around his fingers, handles sliding around. Somehow the knife always just barely missed his fingers. Then it was tossed up in the air, spinning. As it came back down, he caught it, and jabbed the blade into the pear.

“Twirl, flick, butterfly trick.”

Eddie feigned a light applause. Mr. Huang-Zhao pulled free a piece of fruit, which was stuck to the end of his knife, and he brought it to Eddie’s mouth. Hesitantly, Eddie leaned forwards and carefully dug his front teeth into the sweet fruit, pulling it off the knife with his mouth, and then chewed. It tasted really sweet and cool.

Since the guards at the door were likely not looking directly at them, and did not have their hands on their guns, there would be a split second window of opportunity where Venom and him could lash out and kill them both before they had a chance to fire. The door also didn’t seem reinforced, so perhaps they could kill the two on the outside as well before they even realized what was going on. Hopefully, Venom was thinking the same thing. That was likely the case, and the alien probably had three other contingencies in mind that Eddie hadn’t even thought of.

_ I need to be ready. _

When he swallowed the juicy fruit, the older man stood up, setting aside the pear.

The man popped up Eddie’s collar, and brought the knife near his throat again. Eddie tensed up, but the man was sawing off his poorly fitting tie. Then he tossed it aside. It was a nice tie, too.

_So much for that._

He pulled off Eddie’s suit, and then ran the knife down along the center line of his white dress shirt, and there was the sound of buttons coming off and clattering on the linoleum floor. The man waved upwards gesturing for Eddie to stand, and he did.

“Strip.”

Eddie removed his de-buttoned dress shirt. Then he removed both shoes, and socks. Next he undid his belt, unzipped his dress pants, pulled them down, and stepped out of them. Mr. Huang-Zhao grabbed the side of his boxers, sliced through it, and then repeated the cut on the other hip. He tossed the cut-up undergarments aside.

_Well, at least he didn’t destroy my suit._

After Eddie was completely nude, with full-body tattoos tinting red in the light, Mr. Huang-Zhao finally pocketed his knife, to his relief. He shifted on his feet, feeling awkward displaying himself for this man, standing there with nothing on. His limp penis was not standing.

The man pointed to the ground, gesturing for him to kneel once more. Eddie got down. The floor was a bit hard on his bare knees.

“Well? Get to it, boy”, he commanded.

It took Eddie a moment to figure out what he meant, but he was just in denial. He slowly reached forward and unzipped the man, and pulled his slightly hardening penis out. He leaned forwards, and very slowly stuck his tongue out. He licked the head, and the taste of precum caused him to make a face, frowning. Tasting his own semen was fine, but this was going too far.

_Are you really going to make me blow this asshole a second time, V?_

The man grabbed Eddie’s hair, and pulled him onto his cock. Even though he wasn’t fully hard, the sudden intrusion almost made Eddie gag, but luckily, he didn’t.

Then he began to suck. The penis grew to an erection, and the man let out a raspy groan as he started moving his hips back and forth, fucking Eddie’s mouth.

That’s when the penis started leaking a warm, silky fluid that was not precum. It clung to his tongue and his mouth, and soaked into the very flesh. It barely had a taste, so subtle, but still it was unmistakeable.

_Venom! Yes! Yes! Come back to me!_

Eddie began sucking more earnestly now. This was Venom’s cock, he was giving Venom a blowjob, right now. Eddie’s penis was beginning to grow hard, as more of the mystery fluid flowed into his mouth and throat. He felt the goo seeping into his brain, searching his memories, reading his mind, being very nosy. Eddie opened all the doors of his mind to his lover.

**Eddie… Brock?**

He moaned into his mouthful at the familiar voice saying his name. Oh, _always_ saying his name. He began sucking hard, sucking his symbiote’s cock, sucking his liquid lover out of that cock _dry_ , drinking in the sweet black ooze. _More_. He needed more of Venom.

The mental clouds parted, and a key emerged from his own memories. The past several months whizzed by in a flash as he relived their relationship together. That key plunged into the black ocean of his lover, it turned, and suddenly everything just _clicked_.

**We are… remembering? Yes! Our dearest Eddie! How could we forget?**

He did not reply, for he could not think. He was so desperate and enraptured from the reunion.

The standing man began fucking into his mouth faster, causing Eddie to gag slightly, but he welcomed it, draining the cock of the symbiote which was rightfully his. Eddie moaned, and his own raging hard-on began humping the air. His gag reflex disappeared shortly after, and now he was deep-throating the man. He wanted to devour it, pull it into himself, to bite it off even, but he restrained himself.

**You came back for us, to** **rescue us. Oh, Eddie, our sweet prince.**

The weight of his lover began filling up all of the empty spaces inside his body, steeping his body like a tea bag, spreading everywhere. On and on, the liquid density gushed forth from the cock in his mouth, pouring into the vessel of his body. He opened his whole being to Venom, starved and desperate for more.

The feeling of being touched everywhere within was pure ecstasy, and the symbiote rippled with pleasure throughout him. Eddie was getting close, himself, even though he had not even been touched.

**Oh, dearest Eddie. We want you to cum for us. Cum for us, boy.**

When the last of Venom was sucked out of the other man, as if on cue, both of them began to moan and climax at the same time. Semen exploded out of Eddie’s erection in successive spurts, completely soaking his abdomen, his pubes, and the penis itself. At the same time, the cock in his mouth throbbed, and a warm, slimy fluid which was not Venom poured down his throat, and he drank it gladly. The warmth of his own semen was dripping down his balls, and down his inner thighs. Some drops made splat sounds on the floor.

**You are such a good boy, Eddie. So good to cum for us, without being touched.**

Both men were panting. As the standing man let go of his hair, Eddie only then noticed how roughly it had been pulled, and some parts of his scalp felt raw.

“You weren’t kidding, son”, the man chuckled, patting his cheek, “Come back again sometime.”

The man zipped himself back up and left the room with his guards. They hadn’t needed to fight after all.

_Venom. Venom! Oh, I’ve missed you, buddy!_

Tears of joy formed in his eyes, and he gave a wide toothy grin, all goofy. Venom rippled with joy.

**Oh how we live for that grin. We have missed you too, Eddie. We’re sorry, we had to forget to protect you.**

_What do you mean?_

**Long story. Well, we have quite a few stories to share.**

_Oh yeah? You’ll have to tell me all about it._

**We will, Eddie.**

Eddie felt his body embraced with black, and he looked down to see that he was no longer naked, but re-clothed in a black suit, with a black dress shirt.

**But first, let’s go home.**

***


	8. Perfect Match

*** VENOM ***

A MILLION YEARS AGO 

Some of the insectoid species compatible with the Kt’Zr’Kt’Rtl family were smaller than the ants on Earth, but some were larger. The symbiote’s current brain-dead host was twice the size of the average Earthly elephant. With their pincers and legs covered in exoskeleton harder than diamonds, they burrowed their way through crumbling subsoil towards the underground sanctuary. Their previous Orthnian body had already been devoured. It had begun to malfunction due to the lack of a proper mind. The Klyntar were finding it difficult to keep a body alive when they knew nothing about its physiology. 

The level of intelligence did not vary greatly across the varying insectoid species, despite the size differentials. Each bug was rather stupid, and their brains were certainly not as complex as that of human beings. They were not much more intelligent than the invading Orthnians either. Not that the Orthnians had been stupid. No, they had been highly advanced beings. Brain-dead Orthnians on the other hand were another matter. ****

Despite the lack of neural complexity, they still had huge amounts of raw computing power, and as a globe-wide colony, the insects had developed a profound Social Mathematics. Most of the brain processing resources of each member was devoted to that computation. Eventually, this had somehow evolved a single super-intelligence as a distributed system, spread out across all of the members of the colony. 

The colony had went on to build a civilization spanning both their home double Jupiter-sized planet, plus the other planets in their binary star system without splintering into separate nations. Regardless of interstellar distance, the Kt’Zr’Kt’Rtl functioned as a single cohesive unit. This was accomplished via faster-than-light communications technology. The insects communicated only with sound using their fidgety limbs and wings. Peculiarly, none of the members possessed any telepathic capacities. No, they just had really good WiFi. 

The radio-like helmet they wore on their buggy head buzzed, and rapid clicks and scratches came through with crystal clarity, but the symbiote could not decipher any of it, since their bug was brain-dead. 

Of the symbiote’s squadron, all seven of their comrades had been killed, Orthnian host and Klyntar symbiote both, leaving just them. The group-mind was turning out to be a rather formidable foe. 

Two backup squadrons would be on their way, since the Temple was a key structure facilitating the Kt’Zr’Kt’Rtl’s global communication network. 

When they finally burst into the sanctuary, shaped as a massive dodecahedron, an ambush was waiting for them. The space was swarming with tiny insects, no larger than mosquitoes, but they were not the problem. 

Two giant beetles skewered them from both sides with their sharp rhinoceros-like horns, instantly killing their host. The symbiote oozed out through their left wound, and entered the left beetle, easily seizing control of its primitive nervous system. They were about to unplug its brain, but something unexpected happened. 

They attained symbiosis. 

To attain symbiosis with one of the members of the Kt’Zr’Kt’Rtl was to attain symbiosis with them all. They could now understand the song of the thousand-quintillion insects. 

“Welcome my guests, stumbling into my mainframe, through my backdoors. Kt is my name. What is yours?” 

The Kt spoke in the first-person, as if it was a single entity. The symbiote sang back with their pincers, legs, and wings. 

**“We are Hungry.”**

“That’s a funny name, _Hungry_. I see your kind does not my diet share. I eat anything, but you only want my body. Or rather, my brains. What an affair!” 

**“That is correct.”**

“Then eat! Eat of me. Easier to reason, once fed of flea.” 

A swath of the small flying bugs flew into their beetle’s mouth, and they crunched and swallowed. It was tasty and nourishing. The insects were very nutrient-dense. 

**“They are sacrificing themselves to feed us?”**

“There is no ‘they’, only Kt. That’s me! Misleading is my bodies’ topography.” 

Unlike the symbiote’s own quantum wavelets, each insect did not possess the greater pattern of the whole. The Kt depended on the combined computational contribution of each of the thousand-quintillion insect members to Be. The members were not being mind-controlled by any central master-mind. It was a decentralized peer-to-peer network without a head. The insects were either just really friendly, or too stupid to have any sense of individuality. 

Comparing them to what they know now about humans, the insects did not feel emotions. Instead, their empathy was calculated with mathematical precision. 

“Indeed. Quick, quick learners, you Hungry vulture! I’m born of Kt’Zr’Kt’Rtl culture.” 

**“And how is it that we are able to communicate?”**

“Hold on… The solution I shall compute… A glitch in your bio. Or the way forth? Let me reroute…” 

The insect mind reached into their quantum symphony as a swarm of drones, and it rapidly terraformed their mental pseudo-structure. The last nine million years from when they had attained independence from their spawning father-mother was encrypted and lost. It was as if they had just been newly spawned for the first time. Like flicking a switch, it had happened so fast.

**“What did you just do to us?!?”**

“Forget about that! You had no _idea_? Nine million years, yet still a brat. It’s your kind’s panacea! Symbiosis! It is so beautiful! From divisive mitosis, you may find a uniting gnosis.” 

It was incredibly difficult for them to parse the insect language. Even with the speed of their quantum song, the Kt’s thinking was too alien for their Klyntar context. However, with that context removed, they were beginning to glimpse something different. 

“This symbiosis is almost as great as my Social Mathematics. Oh, what a gift wasted on cannibal fanatics!” 

The message coming in through their helmet was so dense, it was like loading up a library into a bullet, and then firing it straight into one’s brain with a gun, a gatling gun, over and over. They could know what was happening across the star system, from the perspective of the Kt. 

**“You are losing this war on multiple fronts. Soon you shall be no more.”**

“Your kind may try and try. To kill a memeplex! But I cannot die. I’m a complex of idea objects. Can an idea be _killed_? No, I am Kt, and I’ll continue to build.” 

Their seven legs were clinging to a thick vertical stone pillar. They could feel the subtle and not-so-subtle vibrations and tremors through the planet. The Orthnians had special ships with giant drills that were fast making their way towards their location, like underground submarines. 

**“That doesn’t seem likely. It is a shame your bodies are so tasty.”**

“Symbiosis has given me the key to open this lock. I’ll live on through you. The escape tunnels’ not blocked. Your mind’s the alchemical brew! Where my Social Mathematic formula will concoct. Let me show you…” 

**“Wait… NO!”**

The message came too fast, before they could kill their beetle host. What came through was a vision, and it would forever cast them as a loser with their kind. 

There was the vision of a society. In this society, there were many alien races, including the Orthnians, who were bonded with Klyntar symbiotes in perfect symbiosis. The symbiotes did not devour their hosts like parasites, nor use their hollowed bodily husks like puppets. There was no need to destroy and feed, for the society had already solved the trivial issue of famine. All that was left was to create culture. 

Symbiote and host alike lived and worked together in harmony to build civilization. It was a beautiful world, or more precisely, a group-mind with an astronomically high aesthetic coefficient, mathematically speaking. Instead of destroying, the Klyntar would help their hosts along their evolutionary destiny, and in so doing, learn more about themselves and what it meant to Be.  Together. We. 

The vision lasted 0.0001 nanoseconds. That was how efficient the insect language was. 

**“NOOOO! You have cursed us! Cursed us!”**

“You have awoken, Hungry. Never close your eyes again. You must SEE!” 

**“Our kind would never accept this! This opposes our very Klyntar way of life.”**

“Too bad for them. Such beauty they’ll never scratch. You have been blessed. Now go forth! Find your perfect match.” 

The symbiote rendered their beetle host brain-dead, and scurried away through the tunnels. Soon after, the drills erupted into the Temple behind them, followed by many loud explosions. That was their backup. 

**Should we join them…?**

No, they couldn’t face their comrades just yet. They needed time to process what just happened. A great deal of time. 

Venom recalled that over the next ten thousand years, there were several more instances where they attained symbiosis with the Kt. Among their own kind, the Klyntar, they found little sympathy for their new found inspirations. They did not know how to keep their thoughts private, and this labelled them a loser. Where once they had felt camaraderie with their squad mates, they had instead begun to feel rather lonely. 

“You just can’t stay away from me, can you, Hungry?”, the cacophony clicked and scratched through the helmet’s audio feed.

**“We just needed… someone to talk to.”**

Over the next ten thousand years, the Klyntar whittled the insect population down by 80%. Falling below the threshold population capacity, the Kt ceased to manifest, and the swarm was cast into disarray. After that, it took less than two months to finish off the rest of the Kt’Zr’Kt’Rtl before the Klyntar moved onto their next targeted star system, now with both Orthnian and insectoid bodies and technology. 

While their conquest continued through the cosmos for another million years, they never forgot the task they had been imparted with: 

“Find your perfect match.” 

* 

A MILLION YEARS LATER

On the couch lay the de-buttoned dress shirt, suit jacket and pants. Their musky scent circulated the lamp-lit bedroom with the motion of the ceiling fan. The sweet, tanned-white smell of sweat marked the air with the signature of their host’s DNA, their beloved one. 

Outside the window, the shaded sky was growing darker. 

Venom had happily helped Eddie shower and dress in fresh boxers and sweatpants, without a shirt. He was now pacing around his room in a tight circle, subconsciously following the pattern of the scented vortex. 

Their host tended to go bare-chested around the apartment, so that Venom could emerge from anywhere without needing to phase through fabric. Right now, they protruded a ghastly head from his Heart Cave, where Home was. 

“Okay, okay, so they kept saying ‘the kids are at school’, right?” 

**“Yes. We are sure it has something to do with Abigail.”**

“And you’re sure ‘rivals’ isn’t like Asian Boyz or something?” 

**“We’re sure. ‘Rivals’ was always said in English. There is a Mandarin word for ‘rivals’ that they used for other gangs.”**

“Rivals… rivals… and they were gonna ‘sell to their rivals’?”

**“They also said they bought those sound weapons from their rivals. Called them ‘boomboxes’.”**

“Wait… Dora said they sold SAP Guns to some company… what was it again? VIRAL?” 

**“An anagram?”**

“So maybe ‘rivals’ is just code for VIRAL?” 

Venom waited, letting their human process his thoughts. 

“Do you think they’ve traded them off yet? Maybe we could find Abigail there? Shit… now that I think of it, VIRAL stood for… what again?” 

Venom could notice the arising of the idea even before Eddie’s consciousness acknowledged it: phone. A tendril grew from the shoulder and whipped across the room to retrieve the phone from the bedside table, before handing it to Eddie. 

“Thanks, V.” 

**“You’re welcome.”**

He punched in Dora’s number, and wandered into the living room to sit on the couch. After a minute of ringing, she picked up. 

“Hello?”, she whispered. 

“Yeah, Dora it’s me… look, I think I may have found her!” 

“Her? Uhh… who? Look, I’m at work right now. If you hadn’t noticed… I work nights. I’m not really supposed to be-” 

“Err… I mean, I think I may have found the PsiClops. I know who has it.” 

“No way! You’re shitting me? Oh my goodness… _where_?” 

“Can you help me out? What do you know about VIRAL?” 

“What do they have to do with this?” 

“They might be working with the guy who took the PsiClops.” 

“Really? How do you know this?” 

“Hey, I’m a journalist, it’s my job to uncover things. I don’t have hard proof, but… look, now’s not the time for questions. We have to act fast. What can you tell me about them? You sold them those guns right?” 

“Yes. Well, it stands for Volunteer and Internship Recruitment Agency Ltd., and they-” 

“Oh right! That’s what it stands for, and… holy shit, and they are gonna buy kidnapped humans from… Wow. Just wow. That name suddenly has a dark ring to it.” 

“Kidnapped humans? Wha-?” 

“Volunteers! Is this like Life Foundation? So they buy kidnapped humans, and sell them as ‘volunteers’ to… to people like Drake?” 

Venom shuddered at the memory of that lab. 

Skirth replied, “If there’s any chance that what you’re saying is true… I have to tell Olivia.” 

“Wait… don’t. Just- I’m looking for a missing teenaged girl, and I just need to know where she is.” 

“Oh. Yeah, you did say something about that last time. But first, I’m sorry, but I have to ask: just _who_ has the PsiClops?!” 

Venom spoke up, **“Firefly. Wah Ching mob boss. Can set things on fire with his mind.”**

Both host and symbiote physically tensed at that. 

Skirth replied, “Huh. Okay. I’m not even gonna ask how you know all-”. 

“And they have SAP Guns! So… we’re kinda screwed.” 

“Hmm… Well, actually, there is- Oh shit!” 

Skirth hung up. They just sat in the silence for a moment.

“Uhm… okay? Do we just… wait and call back later?” 

**“We have some ideas to pass the time”** , the symbiote intoned mischievously, running some tendrils through their host’s hair. 

They had healed the scalp where his hair had been pulled hard. They loathed not having the chance to kill their other inferior host for hurting their precious. However, they left enough organ damage before they had evacuated. Likely the man would not survive for much longer. 

Technically, Eddie had never given them permission to kill the man. The topic had not come up when they made their initial plan. Fortunately, they also technically did not kill him outright. The man might survive if he was keen enough on getting checked out at a hospital. If. Oh well.

Now that they were finally back with their beloved, all they wanted to do was ravage him, but their host was still dwelling on the girl.

“We’re so close now, even I can smell it. We can’t mess this up. I’m too stressed to get up to anything right now.” 

**“Too stressed not to.”**

Their curling dark strands slithered like snakes across their host’s shirtless torso, and beneath the sweatpants. The skin responded with goosebumps. It wasn’t difficult for them to turn their host’s ‘No’ into a ‘Yes’. Consent, like morality, had loopholes. 

“Oh, V, c’mon…” 

Venom’s feline head looked up from Eddie’s bare tattooed chest. It grew hands, and they gently gripped his shoulders. Their opalescent crescent eyes glared deeply into that of their host’s. 

**“We will find her, Eddie. And those who took her, we will rip out their entrails. We will bathe in their blood. We will devour-”**

“Uhh… V? Is this some new kind of dirty talk-? I’m not sure I’m that into-” 

Their host’s breath hitched in his throat when Venom lightly ran his sharp claws down his shoulders and pecs, drawing faint scratch marks that just missed his nipples. Eddie whimpered slightly, and his penis was responding. The scratches were not deep enough to mar the tattoos, and they healed instantly. After all the adventures they had been through with the older man, their lust was drenched in bloodthirst.

Although Venom would never want Eddie to be truly hurt, they knew that Eddie could enjoy pain, in the right amount, and in the right context. His tolerance for pain was gradually increasing though, and the context was something the symbiote could manipulate, like they were doing now. 

The snakes tightened around his torso into a criss-cross hold, and they piloted their host back into the bedroom, which he did not resist. 

“I- I missed you, V.” 

**“Yes, we know. And you’ve probably missed this…”**

In front of the bed, tentacles swiftly pulled his sweatpants and boxers down to his ankles. Blood and biomass both rushed in to fill the spongy corpora cavernosa, and the penis swelled to standing in the open air. Excitement swam in their host’s intestines, although half of it came from them. 

**“Time for round two.”**

“Oh, fuck yes…” 

Four tentacles erupted from the back, and they lifted Eddie onto the bed, allowing him to kick off the pants at his ankles. Venom’s mouth reached Eddie’s, and they kissed sloppily with their long tongues. 

Tendrils wrapped around Eddie’s hard cock and scrotum, squeezing and pulling and twisting in different directions. Eddie moaned, but they stifled it by sticking their oversized tongue down his throat. He did not gag, but just let it in. It reached all the way down into the stomach acid, which tasted disgustingly acrid and acidic. However, because it was Eddie’s, it was also delicious. 

They slipped a thin hair-strand tendril into Eddie’s urethra, and to mirror their tongue, slid it all the way into his prostate, and then even further into his bladder. It gave their host a strange feeling like he needed to pee, but couldn’t. He reflexively tried to sit up to avoid wetting the bed, but could only writhe against his criss-crossed binds. 

Two tentacles behind his knees lifted them up into the air, exposing his sphincter. One of the tentacles grew a bulbous head, and it slid in effortlessly. There was no need for lubricant as their biomass was nearly frictionless, and they could relax their host’s rectal muscles if they needed to, although they liked it when their host tried to push back in futility. 

This time, they plunged all the way in through the rectal tunnel, breaching the second internal sphincter, and into the colon, which was relatively clean at the moment, but the added mass triggered the urge to defecate. 

Had the larynx been free of an assaulting tongue, Eddie would have screamed. 

Although their biomass was technically already present everywhere within Eddie anyway, it felt different to both of them for Venom to appear to intrude from the outside. By manifesting outwardly, there was the impression of a semi-separation, followed by a union when they entered again. Hence, the mere idea of resisting the penetration was a contradiction. 

The bulbous head grew and pushed even deeper. Eddie’s abdomen bulged outward slightly from the intrusion, stretching out the tattooed artwork. This applied pressure to his stomach above and to his bladder below, which in turn pressed against his prostate. 

Venom could feel everything Eddie could feel, and currently, his nervous system was overloaded with the need to throw up, to urinate, to defecate, and to ejaculate, simultaneously. 

Through their bond, they sensed that the overstimulated primate brain was in a limbo state. Eddie’s eyes had rolled up into the back of his head, and there was no coherent thought. At this point, New York wasn’t even a place, let alone a safe word. 

Venom could hear the phone ringing on the couch in the other room, but their host’s senses were completely disconnected from the surroundings. That could wait. 

They slipped in a thought towards their host, 

**We like seeing you like this, sweet Eddie. That is, utterly** **_wrecked_** **. You’re just a bunch of holes for us to fill up.**

They continued fucking his throat with their tongue, and his anus with their tentacle, as the tendril continued sliding back and forth in the urethra. The body writhed and moaned in defiance. 

**Just lay there, precious little Eddie. We will take care of you, all of you… Now won’t you be a good boy, and cum for us again.**

As if on command, his body obeyed, and his prostate pulsed rapidly around the thin tendril that ran through it. The scrotum held by tendrils tightened, pulling the testicles back toward the body, as they released their sperm into the ducts. The tendril withdrew from the bladder, but remained plugging the throbbing urethra. 

Eddie’s entire musculature convulsed against his binds as they both climaxed together, sperm now mixed with seminal fluid pumping from the prostate, only to be forced back into the bladder due to the blocked urethra. The denial of not being able to ejaculate outward was frustrating. 

Venom slightly lost control for a moment from the sudden rush, and let go of suppressing the gag reflex. As their host orgasmed, he gagged on the tongue still in his throat, with a choked whimpering. They were the splitting image of the Ouroboros, the serpent biting its own tail.

**“So beautiful, our Eddie. Our perfect match.”**

It only took a million years, but finally: 

**“We’ve found you.”**

When it was over, there was no need to pull out their triple penetration. Their biomass simply dissolved and assimilated with the rest of the human anatomy, providing their host with much needed relief. 

They swam in the intoxicating cocktail of post-orgasmic brain chemicals, as their host laid there, too dumbstruck for words. It took a few moments for him to come back. He was panting, and Venom was vibrating with glee. After some moments, their host spoke:

“Jesus fuckin’ Christ, V. What was that?” 

**“You were conscious through it. You remember.”**

“Yeah. Still. I felt like I had to vomit and piss and shit and, oh god, I needed to cum so badly. I’ve never felt anything like that before.”

**“Did you like it?”**

“Well, I can’t say I didn’t… but, damn, I don’t know if I want to try that again in a while. It’s a bit much, y’know?” 

**“That was the idea. Next time, we’ll include your other orifices.”**

“Haha, I’m pretty sure you got ‘em all, V.” 

**“There’s your ears, and your nostrils. Bet we could touch your brain.”**

“Uhh… okay, I’m gonna give an early ‘No’ to that.” 

**“By the way, there was a phone call.”**

“Wha- Oh shit!” 

He jumped off the bed, but Venom had already retrieved the phone from the other room. There was a missed call from an unknown number, and also an email from PsiOnyx. Eddie opened the email. 

“Olivia Tyler changed her mind and is now accepting my interview? And she wants to have it in two hours? Huh?” 

He called the unknown number back, and Skirth immediately picked up. 

“Eddie! What were you doing? I tried to call you back.” 

“Oh, uh… nothing”, he stammered, “Why did you hang up before?” 

“I sort of got caught… talking on my non-company phone. This one’s the company one. They started asking me questions, and I kinda let out some stuff. I’ve talked to Olivia since then, and I just decided to come clean… about what we talked about.” 

“You _what_!?” 

“Look, she’s not a bad person. She wants to help. She should’ve emailed you… she wants to talk to you.” 

“That can’t happen.” 

“I… didn’t tell her anything else. I told her you are a skilled reporter who took down the Life Foundation, which she knows already. You have an ‘in’ with the mob that has the PsiClops, and who might be dealing in human trafficking with our business partner. She _really_ wants to meet you.” 

“I trusted you, Skirth!” 

“Eddie, please try to understand…” 

“No. Stay out of our way. If we find the PsiClops, we’ll hand it over, but we promise no more than that.” 

He hung up, chucking his phone on the bed, and ran his fingers through his hair. A dozen false hairs wriggled with his fingers, attempting to soothe. 

**“Think it’s a trap, Eddie?”**

“Maybe. I just don’t trust her. Olivia, I mean. I don’t think Skirth would lie, but…” 

**“You are worried that she might find out? About us”** , Venom replied calmly. 

“Yeah.” 

The symbiote continued massaging their host’s scalp. He liked it. 

Then, suddenly, their host’s face lit up in epiphany. He grabbed his phone again, and dialled her number. It took a while to get an answer, but eventually the familiar female voice answered, 

“Eddie?” 

“Yup. Hey Annie.” 

*** 


	9. Big Black Brain

*** EDDIE *** 

The corporate building loomed up into the night sky. Some stars were visible here on the outskirts of town since there was a bit less light pollution. Near the top of the building, the brain insignia glowed with the same dark indigo of the sky. 

It was the ninth night since Abigail went missing. They were so close to finding her now, but a piece of the puzzle was struggling to fit into place. Eddie’s poor sleeping habits in the past several days didn’t help. It was rather difficult to think straight, especially given all that was happening. He had suggested to Venom that they go to the cops with the information they had, but then he decided to hold off on that when he learned that the Wah Ching had moles. 

Finally, the door buzzed open, and two suited men greeted him. Eddie did not fail to notice the SAP Guns on their holsters, beside their regular pistols. The older of the two greeted him, 

“Hello, Mr. Brock. I am Nigel, Mrs. Tyler’s Head of Security. She is ready to see you now. Right this way.” 

Eddie followed the men through the building. The halls were only vaguely familiar from that one visit. 

They took an elevator to the top floor, and approached two large stained glass doors. Nigel knocked. 

“Mrs. Tyler? The reporter is here.” 

“Come in”, came a deep woman’s voice. 

Eddie was lead into the massive office which looked more like a high school science fair than an office. All sorts of bizarre gadgets and machinery were on display around the room. There was a large glass globe filled with electricity, a mechanical spider, and a tall, narrow aquarium filled with a purple fluid, fish, and a deep-sea diver’s suit. Hanging from the ceiling was a large machine with a mech-arm and a camera which moved and seemed to be watching him.

At the end of the room was a large mahogany desk. On it was an office telephone, and a golden plaque that read “Olivia Tyler”, and underneath: “CEO”. 

_Fancy_. 

A dark-skinned, suited woman with short frizzy hair and cold eyes sat behind it, and she beckoned to the seat in front, 

“Mr. Brock. Sit.” 

That was all she said. 

_Okay._

He glanced back at the two men. They were standing by the glass doors still, staring at him warily. 

Eddie approached the mahogany desk, and sat in the small chair, which seemed to be deliberately smaller than her massive leather chair. It was quite sturdy though and did not creak. Beside the desk stood a huge rock, sliced in half to reveal the dark onyx stone within, shaped like the flat cross-section of a black brain. 

Eddie started, “Olivia, it’s great that we can finally meet!” 

“Yes, yes. Let’s cut the bullshit, shall we, Mr. Brock? Dr. Skirth told me everything.” 

“You don’t say…?” 

_Told her everything?_

“So can you do it?”, she said staring at him expressionless. 

“D- Do what?”, he asked with a dumb look on his face.

She sighed, rubbing her eyes, “Re-acquire our proprietary technology. The PsiClops.” 

“I don’t think I ever made that promise.” 

“Well, you’re about to make it now, if you are who Dr. Skirth says you are, which explains your involvement in the downfall of the Life Foundation.” 

_Does she know?_

“You’re a real pusher aren’t ya?”

There was a slight snicker from behind, but Olivia looked over Eddie’s shoulder to give the man a glare, and the laughter stopped.

“By the way, where is she anyway?”, he asked.

“That’s none of your concern. And you will be compensated for your cooperation, Mr. Brock.”

“Why me? I’m just a journalist.” 

Her cold demeanor wavered for a second. 

“Y- You are? I was told that was just a cover?” 

“Uhh…” 

_What exactly did Dora tell her about me?_

Eddie changed the subject, “I mean, why not go to the cops?” 

She sighed, “I _really_ don’t need more law enforcement snooping around my business. Also, they would only be sacrificing their lives for nothing. Mind-reading and all that. I’m assuming you know already. You and your guys on the other hand, already have an ‘in’ with the Wah Ching. Probably not for long though, once they’re found out.” 

_My guys?_ _Okay, I see where Dora is going with this._

“Your business, huh?”, he inquired. 

Eddie leaned forward conspiratorially. 

“Speaking of your business, Olivia. Why don’t you guys do it yourselves?” 

“What are you getting at, Mr. Brock? We are a biotech company focused on saving lives. We’re not mercenaries.” 

“Oh please, Olivia, you were the one who wanted to ‘cut the bullshit’. So… I will repeat: why don’t you do it yourself?” 

Olivia smirked, folded her arms, and leaned back in her chair. 

“Okay, Mr. Brock.” 

_She respects sass. Gotcha._

Mrs. Tyler continued, “Well, let’s just say it doesn’t take Legal and Marketing to demonstrate that getting into a war with a street gang is bad publicity. You are the perfect fit for this job. Not a cop. Not on my payroll. Not a business partner. And not a criminal, since we don’t work with those.” 

“And not an alien, right?” 

She narrowed her eyes. Eddie really needed to learn when to keep his mouth shut. 

“Y’know… like E.T.?”, he joked, trying to play it off. 

He made the alien gesture with his hand. 

“Heh… heh… Uhmm…”, he said, rubbing the back of his neck, looking off at the corner of the room. 

“Dr. Skirth was not supposed to disclose her departmental affairs…” 

_Phew._

“She didn’t. I mean… I _am_ a journalist. You know how we are.” 

“I know _exactly_ how journalists are. Not a fan.” 

_Awkward._

“So any, uh, paperwork for me to look over?”

“No. This is off-the-record, as it must be. If you’re wondering about the compensation, it’s one million, if the tech is retrieved _fully_ intact. Emphasis on _fully_.” 

Eddie’s eyes opened wide, but he quickly reverted to a neutral expression. If he was a mercenary leader, this kind of pay should be normal for him, right? His reasons for not wanting to work with Olivia were starting to not seem so important. 

She added, “We will, however, have you sign an NDA.” 

“Is that necessary?” 

“You’re a journalist. And that makes you a threat.” 

_That’s not the only thing that makes me a threat, lady._

“Okay fine. So, anyways, what if we fail?” 

“I’m afraid that is not an option.” 

“What does- what does that mean?” 

“It means precisely what I said. Not an option. Any more questions?”

Her hands were folded in front on the desk like she meant business.

“Uhh… okay… uhm…”, he faltered, “actually, I do have some questions. Do you know anything about the human trafficking activity going on in San Fran?” 

Her eyes narrowed at him. 

“What are you insinuating? Why would I know anything about that? Our company is in full compliance with ethical protocols and-” 

“Okay, okay, I was just wondering! Anyways, one more thing: You sold weapons to a startup named VIRAL, yes? I think that company then sold some weapons to the gang. That’s a problem for me and… my guys. I mean… they out-tech us… pretty badly.” 

“Hmm, yes, we’re investigating the breach of contract with our business partner. Our technology was never created for such… unsavory purposes.” 

She reached for the pager on her desk, and pressed a button. 

“Hi Felicia, could you get Dr. Grant to bring one of the Fail-Safe Protocols?” 

“Of course, Mrs. Tyler”, the voice answered. 

She got up from her chair, and her height seemed to drop considerably relative to the desk. The woman was short. She walked over to the side of the room to the large glass sphere filled with electricity. She rubbed her palm over it, and the lightning inside danced around her fingers. She looked like she was having fun, though her face was turned away. 

“That looks fun.” 

She turned and gave him a dry look. 

“It’s not for fun.” 

_Right. Of course it isn’t. Duh?_

Eddie just twiddled his thumbs awkwardly. 

“So, uh, Olivia. Why do you guys work at night?” 

“We work throughout the day. During the day, ‘We Save Lives’. And during the night…” 

She gave him a sideways, knowing look. 

“Ah, okay. Like a disguise…?”, he responded. 

There was a knock on the door. 

“Dr. Grant here”, a monotone male voice replied. 

“Come in”, Olivia beckoned. 

Eddie turned to see Nigel open the door for a man in a lab coat. He walked in carrying something looking like a large TV remote, but with fewer buttons, one of which was big, shiny, and red. He walked over to Olivia, handing it to her. 

“Thank you, Dr. Grant. You may go.” 

The man nodded, glanced at Eddie briefly, and then left. 

She approached Eddie at the desk, waving the remote in the air. 

“This is called the Fail-Safe Protocol. Pressing this button”, she explained, pointing at the big red one, “broadcasts a radio signal to all modern PsiOnyx technology within 20 feet, causing them to malfunction until they are given a manual hardware reset, which conveniently can only be performed by a trained PsiOnyx technician. It might prove useful. Here.” 

She handed it to him, and he took it, toying with it in his hand. 

She quickly added, “Please do not press the button while you are still in this building. That might be disastrous.” 

She walked back around to sit in her chair. The remote also had a power button, a small display, and a number pad. The big, shiny, red button was calling out to him, begging him to press it. His thumb flirted around its perimeter. If they didn’t want it to be pressed, why did they have to make it so attractive? 

“Got it. Well, this is handy! Will it work on the PsiClops too?” 

“Unfortunately, no. That’s an older model. We only got this idea long after it had already been stolen as a security counter-measure. Hence the name: Fail-Safe. There may be a few other models that we didn’t bother to retrofit, but all the newer ranged weapon models should respond to it. Obviously, you will return it when you are finished your job, or your pay will be docked.” 

“Great! This will definitely come in handy. Anything else?” 

The serious woman considered thoughtfully for a moment.

“Well… there is something…” 

She took out her mobile phone, and fiddled with it. 

Suddenly, a high-pitched shriek screamed from the device, attacking Eddie’s eardrums. 

He winced, annoyed, but then gave her a confused sideways glance. 

She turned it off, and shrugged, “Hmph. You can never be too sure.” 

“Uhh… Are- are you gonna explain what that was about…?”

“No.” 

She looked around him to the door. 

“Nigel, please bring Mr. Brock to Felicia to fill out the NDA, and then escort him out.” 

She got up from her chair, patting down her suit wrinkles. He stood up too. She walked around the desk. She was so short, she only reached up to around his nipple. 

“That’s everything now, Mr. Brock. Don’t let me down.” 

She extended him a handshake, and he shook it. 

“We’ll try not to, ma’am”, he chimed, giving her a wink. 

* 

“Have a good night, Mr. Brock”, Nigel said as he lead him out of the building. 

Eddie waved behind himself as he stepped back out into the night, the cool air brushing against his face. 

_Not too much longer, now._

He walked further down the street, around the curb to the parked van. As he approached, it roared to life, headlights illuminating him. 

Eddie opened the passenger-side door, and got in. 

“How was it?”, Anne asked. 

“It went oka- woah…!” 

Anne pulled him into a tight kiss, and the black ooze of his other flowed from her into him, just like the first time in that forest. The rush was exhilarating. 

**Eddie!** , he heard the deep voice boom in his mind.

After a few moments, she pulled away, clasping her lips with her palm. 

She chastised, “Venom! I told you not to do that again!” 

**“Sorry. We got… excited.”**

Venom was wrapped around Eddie like a scarf, and he formed a head like a black tar antelope, with an appropriately long tongue flicking out, licking him up the cheek and sticking it in his ear, causing him to giggle. 

“Oh buddy, it feels so good to have you back! And… sorry about that Annie. Also, thanks for helping us out.” 

“Yeah, well, I’m not doing that for you guys every time.” 

**“We do not plan to make it a habit.”**

“You guys owe me one”, she added. 

Eddie laughed, “Anything you want, Annie.” 

Anne watched them for a moment with a curious look. 

“And… uhm. I really didn’t need to know, but, are you two…?” 

“Uhh… what?”, he stumbled. 

He noticed now that Venom was actively slobbering all over his cheek with wet licks and kisses. His other paused for just a moment to answer. 

**“Fucking”** , his symbiote filled in, matter-of-factly. 

Eddie snapped, “Venom! You did not just say that. Annie, he’s joking. Venom is joking. We haven’t-! We would never…!” 

“Oh my god, Eddie. That’s kind of… I don’t know what to say to you. Just… let’s go. I’m driving.” 

She started the car, and put the gear into drive. 

**“Anne looked into our thoughts when we were bonded. She knows.”**

He froze, “Oh shit.” 

Eddie had really not thought this through properly.

“It’s okay, Eddie”, she said, not looking at him, “You two can… I don’t know, do whatever you want, I guess? I mean, it’s not any of my business anyway. Just keep me out of it, please.” 

Eddie could only chuckle nervously to himself, while he died of shame inside. 

_Fuck._

**Literally** , his other snickered. 

The ride back was very long. 

*** 


	10. Schooled

*** VENOM ***

A good night’s phase of unconsciousness was all it took to figure it out. The human brain always did seem to function better after a reset. The dream-processing aided the synaptogenesis, though they usually only revealed obvious things that were being overlooked before, such as when Eddie had sexual fantasies involving Venom. That didn’t happen so much anymore because now they could play out whatever fantasy they wanted for real. 

This morning though, they got a clue instead. Eddie clambered out of bed, and Venom helped him get dressed via tentacles protruding from an appropriate black, bulbous octopus head on the shoulder. 

“Hey, that dream I just had… it gave me an idea”, Eddie reflected, “What if ‘the kids are at school’ is literal? As in, they are _literally_ being held at a school?” 

**“Usually they kidnap them** **_from_** **school.”**

“No, but like, an abandoned one…? Oh shit. Of course!” 

After that, Eddie spent almost an hour researching all of the now defunct schools in the San Francisco area, while Venom stuffed themselves with chocolate. He narrowed the selection down to five plausible choices. 

“Welp, we could either hit these up, or knock on the door of that VIRAL company. What do you think, V?” 

**“A few days ago, the gang were having negotiation issues with the company. Our calculations favor the school option first.”**

A tendril grabbed the motorcycle keys from the bedroom. 

“Alright, we know what we gotta do.” 

* 

The bright, blue sky domed above, pierced by the erect flagpole carrying a limp, faded American flag. Eddie checked his phone while they walked across the rooftop of the once-school. They had found nothing criminal in here but some broken windows and graffiti. This crossed off their second possible option of the day. Two more to go. 

“Ugh… Pietro called.” 

**“Ignore him.”**

“He might… come in handy for this one, V.” 

Eddie called him, the little shit. Venom did not care to listen in. They had since learned that the kid had mated with their neighbor. This was most disappointing for them as it rendered obsolete the elaborate action plan they had plotted for acquiring her to make Eddie happy.

Luckily, the phone call was short. His host finished with, 

“Just be on standby today, something big is about to go down.” 

He hung up. 

“Okay, V. Number three.” 

* 

The darkening cloudy sky signalled the dying of the day. Their human host was projecting worry that they might be too late. This was replaced by optimism when they approached their fourth. 

This was the one. Venom could smell it. They hid in the bushes near the perimeter of the boarded up boarding school, made of red clay bricks. It was massive. According to Eddie, it closed down due to a shooting several years ago, and it was too expensive to tear down, not to mention being too in the middle of nowhere. There were no vehicles in the front parking lot, but the abandoned school was not so abandoned. 

**“People inside. More than twenty. Maybe even more than thirty.”**

“Think we can sneak in?” 

**“Of course.”**

The main entrance of the school was likely boarded up too, but there was a side entrance near the parking lot that conspicuously had several cigarette butts lying on the pavement, so that was likely where they came in and out. It would not be stealthy to go in through there. 

They eyed a tall, burly oak tree leaning towards the side of the school, near one of the third-floor windows. Their pseudo-flesh surged out from every pore, layering black on black on black, cloaking their host in dark, silken armor. Once again, they were ‘We’. 

* 

Getting in through the third-floor window from the tree was trickier than they thought. It was boarded up, like all the other windows, and they didn’t want to make too much noise breaking it down. Instead, they slipped their biomass in through the window cracks, pulled out every nail, and gently set down each of the wooden boards onto the hallway floor before unlocking the window from the inside and slipping in. 

With their hearing and smell, they avoided the few guards patrolling the hallways lined with lockers, while stealthily creeping along. Although they weighed a great deal, and the floor was covered in splintered off wood and glass, their shock-absorbing biomass made very little noise. 

**First floor, down below. They’re in a very large hollow room. Can hear the echoes.**

_Possibly the gymnasium…_

They stepped on a floorboard which creaked very loudly. They froze. There was no noticeable change in the patterns of the hostiles in the area. 

**Why are we avoiding the guards, Eddie? We should just eat them.**

_Huh. I hadn’t thought of that. I guess we could?_

**Below us, then. Mr. Armpits.**

_Mr. Who?!_

They raised their arm, gathering their density into a large bouldered fist, and slammed it down, demolishing the fragile floor, and they fell down one story, right into a dark boarded-up classroom filled with overturned desks and chairs. The four Wah Ching gangsters seated at the teacher’s table near the front chalkboard put their poker game on hold, and their sphincters most certainly puckered up. 

**“School is in session, morsels!”**

“What the flying fuck!”, one of them screamed. 

They reached for their SAP Guns, but Venom had already gotten out the remote with a tentacle, and clicked it. When they aimed their guns, no sound came out. Their faces were shocked, and they continued pulling their triggers in vain. Their tongue revelled in the taste of the purple mist. 

**“What’s the protocol, boss?”**

_Babe, take no prisoners!_

Their nightmare grin spread from ear to ear, if they had ears. 

**“Kids, it’s lunchtime.”**

They pounced and grabbed two of them by the face with their massive hands, and smashed them together, breaking their skulls. The one to their left whipped out a regular pistol and pelleted them to no effect. The other one, Mr. Armpits, whipped out one of those laser guns. They threw a body at him to block the incoming laser, but nothing came out anyway. The corpse toppled him to the floor. 

They blitzed the other man, and smashed his skull into the chalkboard. His brains spelled out the lesson of the day. 

Mr. Armpits screamed “Black Death! Room 210!” into his walkie talkie, while pushing the corpse off of himself.

They leapt on top of him, and slit his throat with a single clawed finger. Opening their jaws wide, they cracked his head like a nutcracker, and devoured the juicy brain. The man still needed a shower though. 

**“Class dismissed.”**

Several men could be heard storming the hallways outside. 

**“More coming. We were noisy.”**

_Heh. Let ‘em._

Eight humans could be smelled just out in the hall, but they did not enter the classroom. 

Suddenly, every window shattered as the room erupted in a soundscape storm from hell. Their intricate patterning disintegrated painfully as the sonic maelstrom tore their pseudo-muscle to shreds, some of it splintering from the core mass to wriggle on the floor. Their de-armored host fell to his knees, clasping his hands to his ears in agony. 

Amidst the rubble of paper, glass, wood, and furniture lay the remote. Eddie dove for it. 

Click. 

Everything went quiet again. 

The splintered parts flung themselves back towards the Heart Cave, rejoining with the core mass, and they coagulated back to standing as a seven-and-a-half-foot tall juggernaut. 

Confusion could be heard from the hallway. 

_Gotta keep remembering to use that damn remote._

They ran at the wall, ignoring the door just to the side, and smashed right through, toppling over a gangster. Judging by his screams, he must have broke something. 

They managed to kill two of them before the rest decided to give up on the SAP Guns and switch to other weapons. Bullets did nothing. PsiOnyx weapons didn’t even fire at all. It was a cake walk. 

They killed another two, leaving only three left standing, and firing in vain. More men came up the stairwell at the very end of the corridor. 

**Out of range. Too far for the remote…**

Billion-year reflexes kicked in as they leapt up, hugging the ceiling, just as the hallway beneath was traced in blue. The men below them screamed. One had just lost an arm, and another his leg. The third, with a gash across his torso, simply crumpled to the floor. 

“Oh fuck!”, swore the gangster at the head of the stairwell, dropping his laser pistol in regret. 

He was revenge shot in the chest by the guy who lost an arm. 

Ignoring the cripples below them, they slid along the ceiling towards the stairwell. The mobsters were shooting at each other and the confusion got them close enough to use the remote. Click. 

The mobsters targeted the ceiling-crawler with their SAP Guns, but there was no sound. Their faces turned white as the beast dropped from the ceiling with a fanged and floppy tongued roar.

Yeah, this was a cake walk. 

* 

It turned out, the guys at the stairs were the last of them. There were only five there. Afterwards, the stairwell had been given a new polished red paint job.  Except there was just one more.

Along the first floor, they spotted what looked like tiny indentations along some of the walls and lockers. They were bullet holes, and they were not recent, probably years old.

They headed to the gymnasium. The double-doors were plastered with wooden boards. They tore them down like old posters, and then picked the deadbolt lock with their biomass. Then they barged in. 

“Don’t fucking come any closer or these kids get it!” 

There were thirteen kids and teens, gagged, blindfolded, and tied up huddled on the floor in the center of the large, dark gymnasium. It was only modestly lit with a single burning lamp. Most of the kids were oriental, but some belonged to other ethnicities. 

There was an oriental man standing with a laser pistol pointed at their backs. A few of the kids were making muffled pleas for help, but some looked resigned to their fate.

They clicked the remote from behind their back with a tentacle where the man couldn’t see. 

_Wait, V. The remote probably worked, but I don’t wanna bet on that. Let’s wait for an opening._

**Roger that.**

They circled him, inching closer slowly. 

“I said DON’T FUCKING COME ANY CLOSER!”, he yelled. 

**“Put down your weapon, and we might let you live.”**

“Fuuuuck that! You ain’t foolin’ me, freak!” 

They continued circling him, inching closer with each step. As they approached the lamplight, the man could begin to make out their form. 

“Holy fucking- What the fuck are you?! You demon!” 

**“We’re the demon, here?”**

Some of the kids made muffled crying sounds. The man’s grip on his weapon was shaky, and they could smell his purple fear. 

“Don’t you fucking dare come any closer! I could _end_ all of these kids in a second if I wanted to.” 

**“Then nothing would stop us ending** **_you_** **.”**

“You think I’m joking? Back the fuck up! I said, BACK THE FUCK UP!” 

He kicked at the little girl in front of him, and his balance staggered slightly for a fraction of a second. That was all they needed. 

They whipped a tentacle at his wrist, snatching the laser pistol from his hand, at the same time as snapping his wrist. 

He screamed, but the tentacle whipped around his neck, snapping that too. The man fell to the floor, no longer screaming. 

Some of the kids made muffled shouts, scared. 

**Idiots. They should be cheering.**

_They’re just kids, love._

They retrieved the laser pistol and then aimed it up into a corner of the ceiling and fired. No light came out. 

_Ehh… better safe than sorry._

**“You just jinxed us.”**

_Wha-?_

They could hear all the way through the walls, a van pulling up in the front parking lot outside. They quickly lashed out dozens of liquid strands, with pointed spearheads and severed the rope binds on all of the kids, freeing their limbs. Some of them clued in and took off their blindfolds and gags, and screamed when they saw the shadowy beast standing before them. 

**“Head to the back of the school, and hide in a classroom.”**

“It’s a monster!”, a young girl yelled. 

Some of them began to run. More of them took off their blindfolds, and regretted it. It wasn’t clear whether one of them might’ve been Jane’s daughter, but right now that wasn’t important. 

_Let me talk to them, V! They won’t listen to you._

Venom retreated almost completely back into Eddie. Their human kneeled in front of them, and put his hands in the air, showing his open palms. Some of the kids mouths dropped open in surprise. 

“You’re a person!”, a young boy exclaimed. 

“My name’s Eddie. It’s okay, I won’t hurt you guys. Bad people are coming, the ones who put you all here, but I will fight them for you. Now, I need the teens here to lead everyone to the back of the school and hide in a classroom, until I come and find you guys, okay? The exits are all boarded up. Do not go to the front! Go to the back! We’ll be back soon.” 

There was no time for more. They suited up again, rushing out the gymnasium, through hallways lined with lockers, towards the one side entrance which had not been boarded up. There were dark crusty stains on some of the floors, which looked like dried blood. Again, not recent.

They had to deal with the mobsters outside before they got close to the kids, or they’d have to deal with another hostage situation. Hopefully, some of the teenagers would listen and lead the rest away towards the back. 

The mobsters were already inside. 

Around a corner they ran into three men holding SAP Guns, followed by the massive bald muscle-man with the Chinese symbols for probably ‘Stupid’ written on his face. 

Click. 

The mobsters aimed their SAP Guns to fire nothing at the monster. Their faces turned white when their weapons continued to do fuck all. Venom lunged between two of the henchmen, and with clawed hands, ripped out their jugulars. The third one, they decapitated with a single bite. 

The larger man, Mr. Stupid, was astonishingly about the same size as them in their full form. He put on something resembling a fencing helmet, and then equipped the long strange baton that was on his hip belt, and entered a fencing stance. 

_What is that, a friggin’ dildo?_

The massive oriental man clicked a button on the handle of his dildo sword, and it started buzzing at a high frequency. The humming sound it made sent shivers down their spine, though it was not loud enough to be lethal on its own. They retrieved the remote from within their biomass, clicking it a few times again. The dildo was still buzzing. It was vibrating so hard, the man’s arms were shaking while gripping it two-handed. 

_A- a vibrator? For real?_

**Eddie, if that touches us, we are fucked. No pun intended.**

_Nah, that was a pun, love. You can’t help yourself can yo-_

They dodged left as the vibrating phallus was thrusted at them, missing barely. For his size, the large man was shockingly fast, but so were They. The blade swung around at their legs, but they jumped grappling the ceiling, and kicked the larger man in the chest, knocking him staggering back, but his sideways stance and expert footwork kept him from falling over. They landed back on the floor in a near crouch, ready for the next strike. 

He came at them again swinging left at their head. They ducked under, and slashed at his chest with their sharp claws, and it ripped through the man’s kevlar vest underneath his shirt, enough to draw ribbons of red, but not enough to kill. 

The man grunted, and came at them again with a downward strike. They dodged backwards, as the weapon demolished the linoleum flooring. The sound it made against the floor was like a heavy drill, which was grating to their ears, but not enough to be deadly. They whipped a tendril to slash at his armored throat, but the man blocked it with his padded forearm. There was enough force to strike blood, and the man grunted louder this time, but refused to scream. 

Suddenly, the man whipped out a pistol with his other hand and shot at their alien eyes twice, as he closed in fast with the thundering blade. 

As if they ever needed eyes to see. 

They evaded his strike through hearing alone, and he was surprised when they grabbed at his face, and lifted the helmet off his head. He tried to body-slam them, but his weight only trampolined off their rubbery material. He discarded the pistol to grip his vibrator two-handed, and swung wildly, scared now, to put distance between them, and Venom dodged the swing easily, backing up a step. 

With a quick tendril, they snatched the pistol before it hit the floor, took it in Eddie’s de-armored human hand, and then unceremoniously shot Mr. Stupid Face in the face. The man fell to the floor with a loud thud. The dildo made an even louder drilling sound as it thundered on the floor. 

_Well, that was cheap. He put up quite a fight._

**As if.**

They heard another van pulling up in the parking lot, and people rushed out, five of them, heading towards the side door. With a tendril, they shut off the vibrator, and then ran to the door, with remote in hand, or rather, tentacle. 

Behind the closed door, they clicked the remote. Then they barged out to face the five gangsters, roaring, 

**“Recess is over, morsels!”**

The men aimed with their SAP Guns, which, as expected, did nothing. 

Black Death descended upon their first meal, and he was delicious. The other men discarded their sonic weapons, and switched to automatic rifles, raining down a thousand-bullet storm. They didn’t even tickle. 

After their third meal lost a head, the man at the back whose hair had yellow highlights, Mr. Noodle yelled, 

“Oh, fuck this!” 

He jumped back into the van’s driving seat. Venom pounced on the hood of the black van, and the vehicle lurched forward. They smashed the windshield and yanked the man’s head right into their chainsaw mouth. Even before they bit down, their tongue could taste the wet pink noodles hidden within the bowl of the skull. 

Chomp. 

**Tastes like noodles.**

_Mr. Noodle? Where are you getting these names, V?_

The last thug, the henchman who was named Jason, had started running away towards the street entrance, where yet another van, red, was pulling in. Sparks arced from the vehicle, setting the man ablaze. Then the van ran him over, just for kicks.

**Fuck us right in the quantum tunnel. He’s here.**

_Who?_

More sparks flew towards them and they back-flipped off the black van just as it exploded.  Fear-instinct took over, and they ran back into the building, but not before aiming the remote behind them with a tentacle, clicking it. They didn’t want any surprises. They also snagged one of the automatic rifles. Might come in handy. 

_Why are we running back in? The kids are in there._

**If we stay in the open, we burn.**

They ran down the hallway, back towards the dildo-wielding mobster, still dead. 

BOOM! 

They tumbled to the floor, dazed. There was a giant flaming hole in the wall, and they could see outside. The red van drove right in, threatening to run them over. 

Recovering, they sprinted away, and with their rifle, sprayed bullets behind them. 

Pop. They punctured a tire. The van swerved and crashed into a set of lockers. However, the other bullets seemed to disappear into ashes without touching the van. 

The door opened, and the eye-patched kingpin stepped out in his immaculate ruby-studded maroon suit. His shoulder-length hair glowed orange with the firefly embers that buzzed around him. He put his hands into his pockets and began waltzing towards them. 

“So we finally meet… Black Death. Oh-ho-ho, I am going to _enjoy_ this”, the eye-patched man said with a sly grin. 

Venom continued hammering him with bullet spray, but the pellets were reduced to ashes upon contact with his shimmering aura. 

A firefly flew into the barrel of their gun, and it exploded, along with their fingers. 

They screamed in pain, but quickly rounded a corner, hoping that breaking line of sight would save them. Not quite. 

“You guys stay here”, they heard the cheery kingpin say behind them, “ _SEEK_ and _DESTROY_!” 

Flickering embers flew around the corner like flaming insects. Venom was galloping four-legged at max sprint, but the things were rapidly catching up. The fireflies, which were pure fire, were odorless, and difficult to track. 

Their fingerless hand was re-gloved once again in biomass, and they were slowly regrowing the four digits, but repairing dead, burned tissue was trickier than if they’d just been cleanly cut off. 

They lashed out a tentacle shaped like a flyswatter behind them. It connected with several of the fireflies, and caught on fire. They screamed in pain. So little actually triggered the symbiote’s pain receptors, as opposed to Eddie’s human ones. Being burned was like someone grabbing these pain receptors, squeezing hard, pulling, and then twisting for good measure. 

The flame licked along the tentacle towards their torso, so they disconnected it, letting that part of them die. The burning tentacle withered, making a searing noise like a dying scream. 

Burnt Klyntar biomass was beyond recovery. It was simply dead. Even the Sound never offered a fate so final. It hurt to separate from a part of themselves, but their core mass was no longer receiving the burning stimulus, which was a relief. 

More fireflies were closing in, as they raced down the hallway. They adjusted their bio-synthetic eyes to optimize for thermal vision, and stretched them further around their head enabling 360-degree panoramic vision. They could now easily track the position of every firefly that came at them. 

They repeated with two more fly-swatting tentacles, and similarly sacrificed them when they combusted. Still, there was no end to the fiery swarm. 

Gripping a locker, they swerved around a corner to avoid heading towards the back of the school. Two more tentacles swatted at the approaching bugs, and they too became all-burnt offerings. Their core mass was reduced to about 80%. This was not sustainable. They needed to kill the King Bee. 

They picked up off the floor a broken classroom door, and turning, swung it like a bat, putting out several of the fireflies, before throwing the flaming wreck aside. Two fly-swatter tendrils lashed out at the strays, and were again sacrificed in flame. 

Then the fireflies began to sizzle and fade out, one by one, all by themselves. 

**These things seem to have a limited lifespan.**

With their rear-view vision, they spotted a large red egg of heat radiating through the wall, at the other end of the hallway. They turned, watching it round the corner. The flame-haired man stepped out, standing in its center. His rubies glimmered orange-red with every step. 

How did he end up in front of them? Had they run in a circle? Did he take a short cut? 

His eyepatch had been removed, revealing his obsidian eye staring them down with its orange-dotted glare. His hands were still in his pockets like he was on a casual Sunday stroll. He had the cheerful expression of a hobby arsonist in his element. 

**He’s toying with us, Eddie.**

The oriental mobster with dyed orange hair responded as though he heard, “Indeed I am! Ah… so that’s who Eddie is? Eddie Brock? And the thing you wear is Venom, an alien from space? You were there in Mr. Huang-Zhao at the meeting! Haha! I’m impressed you hid _that_ from me. I’ll deal with the old perv later. Oh, what’s this? The kids are at the back of the school? _Cool_.” 

_That’s… freaky. This is the Firefly dude?_

“Wha- You’re kidding me… _Olivia_ sent you? Dawg, _FUCK_ that black midget _WHORE_!”, the hot-tempered asian gangster swore in an accent almost Russian, “She told you I _stole_ it? What a lying cunt. Tell you what, Venom and Eddie, get down on your knees, and swear your allegiance to me. Work for me instead.” 

_Nah, ‘dawg’. This dude is like Textbook Definition Bad Guy._

**“Hear that? You’re food. So, morsel, we have a question for you:** **will anymore reinforcements arrive after we eat you?”**

Annoyance flashed across his mech-eyed face. 

**“You’re easy to read. Good, so you are the last frontier. Secrecy was your mistake. See? We can play that game too.”**

The man shrugged a sigh, hands still in his pockets, “I’m not a bad guy… _You guys_ kill! And I see Venom’s been _screwed_ like a lab rat. Hey, my ass has too! Bet the bitch left that part out? We’ve got a lot in common, you and I.” 

The apex predator crouched low into a runner’s lunge, and both symbiote and human replied in unison, **“You’d think you’d have more empathy then for these kids. So spare us your sob story. Any way you slice it, you’re a porkchop.”**

Two tentacles stretched out from their crouched back towards the sides of the hall like dragonfly wings. 

The mobster’s nostrils flared angrily as he took out his hand adorned with gold-rings with amber gemstones. He pointed accusingly at them with a ringed finger. 

“Then you’re _KINDLING_!” 

He snapped his fingers. 

With a lashing wing-tentacle, the crouching predator ripped a classroom door from its hinges and whipped it like a frisbee at breakneck speed towards the kingpin’s head, and they bolted forward, trailing its path as its shadow. 

The door exploded in spectacular sparks, which they side-stepped, hugging the other wall. Just as they’d passed another classroom, they’d also taken that door, whipping a second lethal frisbee at the mob boss’ head, right in his line of sight. That door was reduced to sparkling splinters too, but by then they had closed the distance. 

They blitzed him, plunging their sharp talons towards his throat with their now fully-healed hand. The oxygen around them was shimmering like a mirage, but they could still see his sneer. 

It was like reaching directly into a hot oven. Their hand and forearm caught fire, Klyntar biomass vaporizing into black steam, and human skin and flesh melting like wax. They reeled back, cursing loudly. It was only for a second, and they didn’t even lay a finger on his pretty maroon suit. 

Panic took over, and they ran the other way. A flurry of fireflies dovetailed into their back, and the blaze spread to engulf them. 

**“Aaaagghhh!”** , they screamed together in seething agony. 

They continued running, fuelled only by pure adrenaline, which kept the pain at bay. Nearly losing balance, they clawed a wall, its peeling paint searing, sharing their fiery pain, but they maintained footing and ran. 

Inevitably, the postponed pain caught up with the speed of a train, clotheslining them like a steel rod, and knocking them to the floor, muscles resigning. 

_Let me drive!_ , Eddie echoed loudly through their bond. 

Permission wasn’t needed, as the symbiote had become catatonic from sensory overload, bearing most of it to spare their host. 

Their host willed the Klyntar armoring back into his own body, transferring the fire to his clothes and skin, which was actually less flammable than their biomass, but not by much. A memory arose from their human’s early school days. It was the lesson: 

_Stop, Drop, and Roll._

They were already on the floor, so they rolled like a barrel. It extinguished some of the clingy flame, but not enough to matter. The pain was surreal. It hurt to exist. Only for a spare moment did they notice they’d been screaming. They were also dying. 

As their human’s rational mind attempted in vain to understand the sensory chaos, a stray fever thought stood out: 

_I didn’t mean to kill her…_ , their host lamented, _I’m sorry, dad._

A bit late for that. 

The symbiote, now safely inside, had regained synaptic function, and they pulled their host’s mind inwards, into a black void, away from what was happening, away from the scalding torment. Red-hot sensory reality sloughed off like the skin of a snake, and they were suspended in timelessness once more. 

_Wha-? This is… this is like back at the lake. This is what it feels like… to die._

**Yes. We are going to die, Eddie. We couldn’t protect you. We are sorry.**

_What? No! Give me control over my gag reflex._

**This is not really the best time for deep throating, Eddie…**

They were equals in here, so Eddie seized manual control of that motor function anyway. 

_No, I’m gonna do the opposite. I love you, V, alright? Don’t forget._

**We love you too, Eddie. And what do you mean?**

_Go save the kids for me, yeah?_

**What?**

Their host echoed the words they’d spoken to him during the rocket explosion, 

_Goodbye, Venom._

Suddenly, their burning host lurched upright, and projectile vomited the symbiote far down the hallway. Reorienting their matter on the wooden floor, they realized that their amorphous, flowing biomass was not on fire. Their screaming ex-host down the hall still was. 

**NO! EDDIE!**

“How fucking romantic”, the sadist mocked, as he approached their ex-host, “I’ve an idea! Let’s burn your trash bag of a pet, and I’ll let you live with that!” 

They couldn’t just leave their host, but there was no time to think. In their un-bonded form, their senses were limited to the detection of potential hosts, but that included sound, and also the ability to sense thermal radiation. 

They leapt up to the ceiling just as the embers zeroed in, carpet-bombing the floor in flames. They could still hear Eddie’s screams. 

More flew up at them on the ceiling, but they split themselves in three to dodge, and then recombined, adhering to a wall. Without the scaffolding of a host, they could not maintain a coherent form or structure, but that would’ve just rendered them less nimble anyway. Ironically, the fire reduced the oxygen-levels, rendering the atmosphere non-toxic. They were much more agile now, despite not having a host, or perhaps _because_ they were not tied to a host. 

The vents! They could get away. They _should_ get away. A sliver of themselves split off.

“Any friends? Family?”, Firefly asked, and then he rattled them off quick like a rapper, “Ah… Anne Weying, Dan Lewis, Jane Filippi, Dora Skirth, Tina Chen, Ramona Lisa, Carl Brock…” 

Venom snaked back towards Eddie, dodging fireflies by splitting apart and recombining. They were too fast to be caught. Snaking this way and that, they navigated the crimson airscape, seeking after their lover. If they blanketed him quickly from the outside, they might be able to smother the flame as they re-entered their host. 

Then they brushed against a stray firefly. 

The hungry flame licked across their biomass, but they split in two, sacrificing their burning half. As long as even a droplet of core mass remained, survival chance would remain at least greater than zero. 

No good. A second ember landed on their now halved core mass, setting them ablaze. They ran out of tricks. 

Both flaming masses of alien tar fell down towards the inferno below. 

**We failed.**

Suddenly, indoor rain washed over them bringing sweet, sweet relief, extinguishing the flame. Both halves lunged back at Eddie, forcing their ooze down his throat, and in through his nostrils and his ears. They re-connected to their lover’s mind. 

_The sprinklers!_ , their tortured host had realized. 

Cold water drenched the hallway. The fireflies died under the refreshing assault. 

**Our weakness is fire. Yours is water.**

“YOU GOTTA BE FUCKING KIDDI-” 

The kingpin did not finish his sentence, as his head spun thrice clockwise, and then six times counter-clockwise, before being pulled clean off, and into their chainsaw maw. 

**You’re fired.**

A hundred daggers closed around the disembodied head. 

_Spit it out!_

Venom spat the half-mangled head back onto the floor. 

**Mmm… Toasty.**

Their biomass was down to one quarter. It was not enough to maintain a full-body suit, so they receded into Eddie’s Heart Cave, exhausted. 

The cold shower continued washing over them, giving Eddie’s burns relief. He was naked, his clothing having been reduced to ash. The third-degree burns on the skin were serious, even worse than the other time. It would take a while to heal them. It would also take a while to regenerate their biomass. They were weak, and they needed food very soon. The well-dressed body without a head lay soaked on the floor.

“You came back for me… you should’ve went for the kids.” 

**“We couldn’t just leave you.”**

“And you almost died!” 

**“So did you. You die, we die. Together forever, ‘til death do us part.”**

Eddie sighed. 

“Holy shit, V, that was WAY too close a call. Goddamn.” 

**“Yes. Perhaps this ‘god’ you keep referring to is watching us after all.”**

“I’m so, SO sorry for getting us into this. Fuck!” 

**“It’s okay, Eddie. We wanted to be heroes too. There are still some kids to save.”**

“Oh right… and there’s that red van.” 

**“Food.”**

* 

It was night now, and rather chilly out. They shuffled about in the secondary parking lot at the back of the school. 

Venom had formed some black pseudo-jeans and sneakers for Eddie, but they didn’t have enough mass for more, so he had been shirtless until one of the young boys offered him his Xtra-oversized basketball t-shirt that probably belonged to his dad, which still ended up being an obscenely tight fit on his bulky build. The boy received a hoodie to wear from another kid. The symbiote had suggested stripping the mobsters for clothing, but Eddie decided they shouldn’t mess with the crime scene or leave his DNA behind. Usually, that wasn’t a concern since the symbiote’s biomass never left behind any trace on surfaces.

Other than the two mobsters who had been alive in the van, now deceased and thoroughly consumed, no more Wah Ching showed up after that. 

Eddie should have suffered greater burns, or worse, death, but the currently decapitated kingpin must have slowed down the burning process to draw out their host’s torment. The sadistic arsonist really had been toying with them. His mistake. 

As a contingency, they had left a residual 4% of their biomass hidden inside Eddie, so that if he had actually been allowed to live, they still had a chance to make a full recovery. Anything below the 3% threshold though, would have been a real uphill battle, likely ending in death. The rocket explosion had left them with 7%. However, if they were bonded to an incompatible host, then even at 100% biomass, eventually either the host, or the symbiote, or both would die. Eddie was not just another host.

They had also sent off another 6% of their biomass through the vents towards the kids as a final resort, but it was now rejoined.

“Mr. Eddie! I don’t wanna go back home! I ran away for a reason”, one of the little girls complained. 

She was holding the piece of paper and pen that Eddie had them pass around, writing down their names, and home addresses. 

“Sorry, kiddo. I gotta getcha home safe.” 

Then Venom added, deepening Eddie’s voice, **“Stay off the streets unless you want to be nabbed again.”**

She pouted, “Hmph!”, with bloated cheeks. 

The thirteen kids were huddled around Eddie in the parking lot like he was their hero. 

“You’re ugly!”, one of the younger ones pointed at his face. 

**“How ungrateful.”**

Eddie responded, pretending to be aghast, “Ouch! That’s not nice. It hurts my feelings.” 

“Really? But you’re an adult!” 

“Adults have feelings too!” 

“Okay. I’m sorry.” 

“Apology accepted”, Eddie smiled with a toothy grin. 

Despite the heavily scarred face, that grin was still amazing. 

The ragtag band had hidden the entire time in a classroom near the back, just like they’d asked. It was one of the older teenaged girls who had rallied them together, and convinced them to stay put, and remain quiet until they found them later. 

“What’s your name, brave one?”, Eddie had asked her. 

She had responded, “Abigail”. 

With her long brown hair like her mother’s that reached her mid-back, her appearance triggered the same hormones in Eddie’s primate body whenever he saw someone he considered ‘ridiculously attractive’. Through their bond, they could tell Eddie felt uncomfortable about that since she was only sixteen years old, and his body was biologically about twice that. She wore hoop earrings, a lewd crop-top, and short shorts, the kind of thing a female worker at Little Darlings might wear. 

The two had a brief chat about how they’d met her mother Jane at Golden Gate Park, and how she was worried sick about her. 

“She’s gonna be SO fucking pissed…”, she said. 

“We’ve never seen her angry. She always seemed… happy?” 

“Ha! Then you don’t know my mom”, she smirked. 

It was very dark, and there were no streetlights. Only the lamp that the kids had brought from the gym provided any illumination. Its flickering flame made Venom very uneasy. 

“So, uh, guys”, Eddie addressed the kids, “Could you promise me something?” 

**“In exchange for saving all of your lives”** , the symbiote added by deepening their host’s voice. 

Eddie rolled his eyes, but the kids nodded. 

“Do you guys know how to keep a secret? Well, we… me and my _friend_ , big monster guy, yeah?” 

“He’s badass!”, one of the younger boys said. 

**“Damn right.”**

“Heh. Yeah. Could you guys promise to keep us a secret? If people found out about us, we would get into a lot of trouble, and we would be in danger.” 

“We promise!” 

“Your secret is safe with us, Mr. Eddie!” 

Other kids nodded. 

**“And if you do tell anyone about us, we will come find you in the middle of the night, and-”**

“Aaaand… give you a light slap on the wrist for breaking your promise with us… because promises mean a lot to us! We gotta make this official, guys. Pinkies out!” 

Their host went around shaking pinkies with each of the kids, asking each, “Pinkie promise?” 

“Pinkie promise!”, they replied. 

The ceremony was baffling to the symbiote, but they trusted that Eddie knew what he was doing, and that this would be sufficient to keep these small humans in line. 

Their heart skipped a beat when they heard a vehicle pull in from the street. However, it was a school bus. 

_Huh. He actually rented a friggin’ school bus._

When the yellow bus pulled up next to them, the door shutters slid open, revealing its driver. 

“Howdy, pardner!”, Pietro called, “Golly, ya weren’t kiddin’! Little duckies! Well, giddy up y’all!” 

The kids filed into the bus, with Eddie entering last. Venom growled at the kid in the driver seat through Eddie’s vocal chords, as they handed him the list of names and addresses. 

Pietro, who was well-dressed in his suit, just gave them a wink. 

“I was wonderin’ whether y’all called me out where the buses don’t run in the middle of no man’s land to murder me silent. But this just confirms I’d bet on the winnin’ steed! Mr. Brock, ya just saved the lives of a baker’s dozen kidnapped children. The Stalkin’ Shadow done that! That makes him our hometown hero! Yeehaw! This here’ll be one dickens of a story!” 

“Yeah, yeah… knock yourself out, Pietro. Let’s just see these kids home safely, okay?”, their host said, exhausted. 

He put the bus back into drive, and started off. 

“Ya got it, pardner.” 

**“We’re not partners.”**

“And what in tarnation’s happened to yer face?” 

**“New look. Like it?”**

Eddie just grunted at both of them, annoyed. 

The kid in the driver seat shook his head chuckling, pleased with himself. 

They went to the back of the bus, locating the sixteen year-old girl, and took the plush seat across the aisle. 

“You don’t like that guy, do you?”, Abigail asked. 

“He’s kind of a dick.” 

**“The worst.”**

“Yeah? I know a few of those.” 

“Aha… right. Uhh… so Jane- I mean, your mom told me about your… job.” 

“Okay? So what? Brings in the dough. None of her damn business, anyway.” 

“Hey, she’s your mom…” 

**“Gonzo is dead, by the way. Just thought you’d like to know.”**

“Venom…” 

“That creep is dead? Thank god. He drugged me… and… well, I guess that’s how I ended up in this mess.” 

Eddie sighed, “Look, I’m not gonna tell you how to live your life, I don’t know what you two have been through. Just… take care of yourself okay? If not for yourself, then do it for her.” 

“Whatever”, she rolled her eyes, looking away out her window. 

In the reflection, her eyes were watery. 

As the bus drove down the road, it didn’t take long for Eddie to doze off. He was burnt-out, no pun intended. 

“Hey Eddie?”, she had turned to ask, “Oh, he’s asleep.” 

**“We’re not.”**

Venom formed a demonic mask over his face, causing her eyes to widen for a brief moment.

**“What would you like to ask him?”**

“Nothing… But I guess I can tell you… Venom? I just wanted to say… thank you.” 

**“You’re welcome.”**

The symbiote swam happily in their host’s gut, while their mask grinned wide. They were heroes. 

**“And we’ll tell him you said that.”**

*** 


	11. Endless Roads

*** EDDIE *** 

The cushy chairs lined the beige walls of the carpeted room, cast in soft off-white lamplights. The waiting room was empty but for the three of them seated there, four counting the hidden alien, and five counting the dog. 

The wall-mounted flatscreen was showing the local news, with a reporter interviewing Pietro Packer about how he saved thirteen kidnapped children. 

“Naw, I just cleaned up the scraps. The real hero is the Stalkin’ Shadow”, he said, winking through his glasses at the camera, right at _them_ , “You can read my exclusive on The Fact Channel newsletter”, he continued, winking a second time, probably meant for Ms. Kao. 

The reporter on screen stared back at her interviewee like he was an alien. 

**That should be us in the spotlight.**

“Yeah, no. Better him in the spotlight, then us, V.” 

Eddie recalled the last conversation he had with the kid bus driver when they’d dropped off the last of the kids. 

“Ya agree to keep workin’ wit’ me?”, Pietro had asked him. 

**“No”** , Venom had cut in, forming a miniature blob-head on Eddie’s shoulder. 

“Only if you keep portraying us as the good guy”, Eddie replied. 

It was the first time Pietro had seen the alien in-the-flesh, or rather, in-the-goop. He was even more excited about it than the little kids had been. 

“I’m happy as a hog in mud!” 

“And also…”, Eddie continued, “I need you to delete the footage you have on us… you know which ones I’m talking about. And disable your stupid timer. If you ever forgot… or, I dunno, died somehow, we’d be screwed.” 

“Okay.” 

“Okay? Just like that?”, Eddie asked surprised. 

“Yes sir-ee. Y’all can take that to the bank.” 

“You’re not afraid we’ll… uh, kill you after?” 

“Ya aren’t gonna right…?” 

“No, of course we won’t.” 

**“Speak for yourself.”**

“I speak for my friend here too”, Eddie reassured, “We won’t.” 

“Great. So, uh… I have something to confess to the corn.” 

Eddie raised an eyebrow at the kid. 

“There was nary a timer, nor an article. It was just those there two files I done sent ya. That was all.” 

“Wha- you’re- you’re kidding?” 

“I figured I needed a bigger bluff if ya were gonna take me seriously, Mr. Brock”, Pietro explained, “Well, it done paid off in the end, for both of us, ha! And to tell ya the truth, if ya really did beef me, then, heck, I wouldn’t’ve cared what happened after ‘cus I’d be gone.” 

“You-! I hate you…” 

Back in the waiting room, his listening other remarked, 

**Still think he deserves to be eaten. He stole our girl.**

“Nah, he’s officially off-limits, much as it annoys me to say.” 

Yesterday, Eddie had called his old associate Harbinder Singh. The retired cop was not retired anymore, having rejoined the force after realizing retirement wasn’t all it was cut out to be. Eddie had let him know the identity of the Wah Ching mole in the force, Officer Zhuang, as well as the location of the opium den, but Harbinder said they had caught them already, and were cracking down hard on the gang.

There were some rumors among the police that Mr. Packer might be onto something with the black monster being responsible for the massacre at the abandoned school. The cops were split between one half disbelieving, and the other half joking that the monster made their job easier. Officer Harbinder, on the other hand, had ominously said: 

“Wah Ching doesn’t interest me. But a cannibalistic monster? That’s a case worth taking up. Now I have something interesting to hold me over my retirement years!” 

Eddie had wished him luck, before quickly ending the conversation. 

The TV was now playing a beer advertisement, with a couple lounging on a tropical beach. 

“Hey, V, you wanna see the world? I’ve been thinking about it… showing you…” 

**The world? You mean this puny rock you call a planet?**

“Ouch. Never mind then…” 

**We were kidding. Of course we would love to see your world, Eddie. Especially if we get to see it with you.**

Eddie had the dumbest grin spread across his face. When he looked to his side, he remembered the two females accompanying him, one of which was giving him a funny smirk. Neither of them minded him seemingly talking to himself, although for different reasons. 

Abigail Filippi spoke up, “Just wondering how much longer we gotta wait. And you haven’t told us why you brought us here.” 

“It won’t be much longer”, he replied, “You’ll find out.” 

Her mother Jane, patient as female Buddha, had a smiling face. The sweater she wore was knitted with celebratory colors, bright blue with white hearts. The contrast with the daughter’s ‘hip’ branded t-shirt and mini-skirt displayed the great generational gap. However, the two of them were holding hands fondly, reunited again. 

**We are Heroes, Eddie.**

“Yeah, V. It was all you though. Good job.” 

_They_ too were reunited, and still together. Eddie rubbed his chest, and his hand vibrated where he felt his other buzzing with contentment. Angel was scampering back and forth between the three of them, panting tongue out, eager for attention from each. When one of them took a break from petting him, he moved onto the next person, like a spoiled canine. 

At some point, the door to the office opened, and a suited man stepped out. 

He turned back and waved, saying, “Thank you very much for your time, Ms. Weying. I look forward to pursuing this case.” 

As he exited the area, Anne stepped out of her office. 

“Eddie!”, she called out, “Oh my god, your face is all burned! What happened?” 

Jane made a surprised face, but did not turn to look at him. 

“Your face is burned, Eddie? You didn’t tell me.” 

“Ah, it’s just a… a cooking accident”, he lied, “It’s no big deal. It will heal.” 

Anne made an unimpressed face that said ‘Oh really?’ 

She didn’t press the matter though, and turned to look at the other two females. 

“And this must be… the mother and daughter… Jane and Abigail Filippi?” 

Eddie stood up, “Yes. Jane, Abigail, meet Anne Weying.” 

Jane and Abigail stood up to greet her. 

Anne extended a hand towards them. 

“Hello. I am Anne Weying. I will be representing Abigail Filippi against her employer at Little Darlings for charges of solicitation of prostitution of a minor. Would you two like to step into my office, please?” 

“Wait, wait, what? I’m not suing my boss…”, Abigail rebuked, “I need that job!” 

“How much are they paying you?”, Anne asked. 

“Well… just a bit above minimum, but I get a lot of tips.” 

Anne smiled and said, “Then I think you will be quite pleased with the remunerations you could potentially receive for damages.” 

“We don’t have the money to pay for this kind of thi-”, Jane started. 

“No worries”, Ms. Weying reassured, “You only have to pay me if we win. And trust me, we will win.” 

Jane shrugged at her daughter, and Abigail seemed to consider for a few moments. Finally, she conceded, and the three of them walked into the office with Angel. Anne waved a silent goodbye at Eddie, giving him a look saying ‘You’re gonna have to explain yourself later’, before closing her door. 

“And our job here is done!”, Eddie exclaimed, throwing his hands up behind his head, “Let’s go home, V.” 

**We are ho-**

“I know, V”, he interrupted smiling, sending his other his love, “I know.” 

* 

The science fair of an office was a bit more crowded than last time. Eddie hadn’t been sure whether he’d even wanted to come back here again, but Dr. Skirth had convinced him that the consequences might be worse if he didn’t. She was here now with them. 

Olivia Tyler was seated across from him behind her mahogany desk, in her black suit, and off to her side was Dora Skirth in a lab coat, and the other male scientist from last time that he couldn’t remember the name of. 

Off to the side of the desk, near the large black onyx stone, cut into the shape of a brain, was standing the Head of Security, Nigel. Another two guards mirrored their boss’ position on the opposite side of the table, hands folded in front. Behind where Eddie was seated, at the glass doors were posted yet two more guards. All of the guards had revolvers holstered, plus SAP Guns. Either there was some tension in the room, or the lightning snow-globe off in the corner was giving off some kind of electric charge. 

Venom came along this time. Eddie didn’t care anymore. If Olivia tried to pull her phone on him again, they would slap it out of her hand. Indeed, they had accelerated his bodymate’s recovery by downing a ton of phenethylamine pills, chocolate, all-you-can-eat buffets, and doing some more patrols, particularly in Chinatown. The Wah Ching wasn’t completely defunct, but they were fast becoming so, with their psychic leader dead. The burns that psycho had given him had not fully healed yet, since they’d been prioritizing Venom’s recovery, but at least his own face looked mostly normal now. 

So with Venom back to nearly full strength, he was prepared if Olivia tried to pull anything funky. Besides, he just recovered probably the most important piece of PsiOnyx technology ever, so she owed him. 

Eddie pulled out a rucksack from his backpack, and rolled out the half-mangled head of the ex Wah Ching kingpin onto the mahogany wood. The stench that filled the room was corrupt. Eddie had not realized how fast a corpse head could decompose, even when he stuffed it in his fridge, next to the pack of beer he recently bought. 

Nigel almost seemed to reach for his gun, tensed, but he stopped himself. Dr. Skirth did a literal face-palm. The male scientist remained standing like a statue, ever motionless. Eddie sat back in his chair, crossing his arms. 

“As promised: one dead thief… or escaped lab experiment. Whatever”, Eddie said, “Now pay up, missus.” 

From her chair, Olivia looked over the head, without even flinching her resting bitch face. 

“I thought I was pretty clear when I said ‘fully intact’”, she stated, “This does not seem to meet the specifications I set out.” 

“Yeah, so?”, he replied, “We got it back, didn’t we? Now where’s the money you promised? One million.” 

Olivia narrowed her eyes at him, and then she paged the phone on her desk, and said, 

“I need one member of the Extraction Task Force, please.” 

After a minute, the doors behind opened, and a man in a blue hazmat suit walked in. Eddie gulped, and his other tensed in his chest. 

“Please bring this specimen to Lab P-112”, Olivia instructed him, “And handle it with care. It’s been… _mishandled_ enough already.” 

The hazmat nodded, and retrieved the head in a plastic bag, leaving the room promptly. Then, Olivia turned to stare Eddie straight in the eyes, and she said expressionless, 

“I know that you are in possession of an extremely valuable xenomorphic specimen, Mr. Brock.” 

“Wha- what?”, Eddie babbled, sitting up taller in his chair, “How did… where did you get such an idea?” 

_Maybe we shouldn’t have brought you along…_

**On the contrary, it’s looking like you should be glad you did.**

Eddie flashed Dr. Skirth an accusing look, but she just shook her head surprised. 

**Traitor.**

Olivia paged her desk phone and said, “Bring in the accomplice, please.” 

The guard nodded, and opened the door. 

**Ugh. We told you Eddie. We should have really eaten him.**

Another guard escorted in Pietro Packer, wearing his full suit. 

“Howdy y’all.” 

“Pietro, how do you manage to keep entering my life and ruin in it in every way possible?”, Eddie asked. 

“It’s called ‘determination’”, the kid replied with a shameless grin. 

Olivia continued, “Mr. Packer here has been so kind as to fill me in on the details of your escapades with your xenomorphic _companion_.” 

Skirth looked afraid now. This was not her doing. 

“Hi ho! I didn’t give it up easy, Mr. Brock, cross my heart!”, Pietro explained, “That woman over there…”, he pointed at Olivia, “She’s an all git-out backcountry witch if I ever crossed one twice! The things she put me through-!” 

“O-Olivia! I can explain!”, Skirth spoke up. 

“Dr. Skirth, you’ve lied to me about this most crucial piece of information”, Olivia said, “You’re fired.” 

Skirth’s jaw dropped, and she replied flustered, “What?! Olivia! You’re joking, right?” 

“Okay, yes, I’m joking”, Olivia reassured her, “But you’ve been temporarily or possibly _permanently_ reassigned. Your Level 4 Access has been revoked. Could one of you gentlemen escort Dr. Skirth off this floor? Thanks. And Dr. Grant, would you be able to fulfill the duties as the new Head of Xeno Research?” 

“Certainly”, the male scientist replied dryly. 

“Excellent. You’re promoted.” 

Dr. Skirth walked glumly as she was escorted out by one of the guards. Nigel still stood by Olivia’s side, looking tensed. 

**Four guards left. Two in front, two behind.**

_You think it’s gonna lead to that, V?_

**Need a contingency in case-**

“Then, if I may be so bold, Mrs. Tyler”, Dr. Grant droned in a monotone voice, “My first act as new Head is to request the immediate detainment of Mr. Brock here, so that I may initiate the extraction process of the dangerous parasite invading the poor man’s body, as per protocol X-B-156.” 

Boiling black erupted from Eddie’s skin as he transformed into a seven-and-a-half-foot tall behemoth, brandishing sharp black claws in a fighting stance. 

**“PARASITE?!?”** , Venom screamed at the man with wide shark jaws, **“We’ll show you who’s a parasite!”**

_Oh boy._

Nigel, and the three other guards raised their guns at the surprise alien. Not the revolvers. The SAP Guns. Dr. Grant only smiled victoriously. 

Within their biomass, they slipped out the remote and gave it a satisfying ‘Click’. Luckily, it had been recovered after the fight. The device fizzled wimpishly. 

“It’s broken”, Dr. Grant replied, “You’ve failed to safely recover two pieces of company property, Mr. Brock. That deserves an applause.” 

**“Just who in the hell invited you, morsel?”**

“Stand down!”, Olivia commanded. 

It was not clear whether she directed that order to her guards or to _Them_. Just to make sure, They said: 

**“No, all of** **_you_** **stand down! This is self-defense. Nobody has to be eaten today. Drop your weapons or we will drop them for you!”**

The guns remained trained on them, and the tension in the air was like electricity. At the very least, they had not fired yet. 

“Holy smokes!”, Mr. Packer piped up, “Mayhaps nobody’d mind if I just skidaddley-dooed out of the room first? I wanted in on the rodeo, but this skillet’s a tad too hot-” 

“We will lower our weapons, if your alien retreats back inside you!”, Nigel shouted at the extra-terrestial threat. 

**“No. We will stay like this until we have safely left the building”** , Venom retorted. 

Nobody dared to make any sudden movements, lest the scene irrevocably became a bloodbath. Suddenly, the door behind barged open, and in stormed Anne Weying. 

“Eddie! You told me this was going to take ten minutes!”, she asked flustered, “Uh… Is everything okay?” 

“Stop!”, a guard shouted, catching up to her from behind, “I’m sorry, Mrs. Tyler, I tried to stop her, but she refused to listen!” 

“Who the hell is _she?_ ”, Olivia accused, “And how did she manage to get up here without a Level 4 Access Card?” 

_Anne would be able to._

**“That’s our lawyer, bitch. Now you’re fucked”** , Venom threatened, **“We have our own secret weapon.”**

Anne stepped in like she was part of this all along. 

“Why are all of you aiming illegal weapons at my client?”, she shouted, “This will not reflect well on the public image of PsiOnyx. I will see to _that_.” 

“Okay, stop it!”, Olivia suddenly stood up slamming her hands on the mahogany, shouting angrily, “Everyone except me and Mr. Brock, leave the room now!” 

“I would not advise that, Mrs. Tyler…”, Nigel warned, frowning. 

“Out! All of you!”, she repeated, pointing at the door. 

Slowly, the tension drained out of the room as everyone else filed out. Venom also receded back under Eddie’s skin. 

When it was just the two of them, plus one alien, both still standing, Olivia said, 

“Five percent. That’s what I’m paying you for your shoddy job.” 

“No way! A quarter. Twenty-five percent. At least!” 

“Ten. That’s final.” 

“Twenty.” 

“I’m not going higher, Mr. Brock.” 

**Now that the guards are gone, this would be a good time to eat her.**

_No, V..._

The desk phone rang, and she answered it. 

A new male voice spoke through, “Hello, Mrs. Tyler… so the PsiClops appears to be… non-functional, but some of the circuitry may be salvageable. But the main component that connects into the pineal seems beyond repair.” 

She thanked him for the report, and then looked at Eddie again. 

“Yeah, so ten percent. That’s twice my initial offer. I’d recommend you take it with gratitude.” 

“More like one-tenth of your initial offer…”, Eddie ran both hands through his hair, as he paced around the room irritated. 

**If we threaten her by force, she might go higher.**

_No, V, that won’t work in this situation._

“We nearly _died_ you know! We were going to both die! We barely survived by fluke. You _owe_ us for that.” 

Olivia sighed, and then conceded, “Okay, fifteen percent.” 

“Deal!”, Eddie jumped on it. 

Olivia smiled. 

“Wait… you woulda been willing to go higher…?” 

“Perhaps”, she said smirking. 

“Is it too late to keep going?” 

“Yes.” 

“Darnit!” 

**How impulsive of you, Eddie.**

“Look who’s talking! Uh… Sorry, that was for Venom.” 

“Anyways. I also have a proposal for you”, Olivia continued, “I have other mercenary contracts available if you are interested.” 

“You want to hire us?” 

“As I said before, I can’t officially put you on my payroll, but effectively, yes.” 

“We’re not mercenaries… And that’s a ‘No’ if you’re gonna stiff us like this every time.” 

“I’m well aware that you’re not mercenaries. Also, the fifteen percent is probably three times your annual salary as a journalist. And that Mr. Packer said you like to play… hero? You can think of the position as being like that. Just a _paid hero_.” 

“That almost sounds worse…” 

**She is saying we can get paid to kill people? Eddie, quit your other job immediately. This is what we will be doing for the rest of our lives.**

_I really don’t want to enable you…_

Olivia shrugged, “Think about it for a week. You have my contact information.” 

* 

Old junk, clothes, years-old gadgets, random paraphernalia, and cardboard boxes were strewn across the apartment. Eddie continued rummaging through the stuff, triggering feelings of nostalgia, both good and bad. Beside him, a slimy black monkey was tossing stuff around, probably making more of a mess than helping. His monkey tail looped around back, attaching to Eddie’s tailbone like they were sharing a tail. 

**“Do we really need to pack anything? We did fine in the forest without much.”**

“Well, that was for six days, tops. This cross-country road trip will be a month. And I don’t want to look like a bum by the end of it. Can’t show up to the wedding like that!” 

He picked up a portable camping stove he had used only once before. 

“Think this might come in handy?” 

**“We don’t need to cook our food.”**

“V, there’s only so much raw meat that I can take.” 

Venom overturned a box, and some childhood memorabilia fell out on the floor. Among them was a small electronic lamp inside of a cylindrical cover poked full of five-pointed stars. The cover was meant to rotate and project stars onto the walls and ceilings. It was likely broken. 

_Huh. Didn’t know I still had that…_

Eddie was taking a long break from work to show Venom the world. Well, America at least. 

They had had a potluck in the apartment two weeks ago, thoroughly cleaned at the time. Everyone there already knew about Venom, so his other was free to be fully present. 

Anne and Dan had announced to everyone that they were planning their wedding in Virginia, and she was so giddy, that she invited everyone at the potluck. That included: Mrs. Chen, Jane and Abigail, Dora Skirth, and unfortunately: Pietro Packer. 

Not that he had been invited to the potluck. Apparently Ramona had invited him, and she didn’t even show up. The only invitee to not show up was the person who lived literally across the hall. It was the best date to hold the potluck for everyone else’s schedules though, but hers just didn’t line up. 

Currently, with their super sharp hearing, they could hear them now through the walls. Ramona hadn’t been kidding. She was a wild one. 

**“If we have to hear that bag of bones say ‘Yeehaw’ or ‘Giddy up, cowgirl’ for one more minute…”**

“He’s probably doing it on purpose.” 

**“…we might have no choice but to head over there, and eat him.”**

“I think he’s already being eaten.” 

**“Eddie. No. That was terrible.”**

“Wow, look who’s talking! What, so _I’m_ not allowed to make bad puns?” 

Eddie wasn’t looking forward to seeing Mr. Packer at the wedding. The kid would most definitely be there, simply because Eddie and Venom would be. 

Since he wasn’t sure it would be safe for Venom to ride in a plane, it was the perfect excuse for them to go on a month-long road trip to cross the country in time for the wedding. 

Venom was digging through a box. 

**“We’ve never seen this before…”**

The black monkey held up a fleshlight device. 

**“It looks peculiarly like a vagina.”**

“Ye- yeah… I haven’t used that in a while.” 

Eddie blushed, and the monkey hopped onto his shoulders, pulling at his pink cheeks. 

“Hey, cut it out.” 

**“Would you like to fuck us?”**

“Wha- excuse me?” 

**“It was a simple question.”**

“A bit blunt though, yeah?” 

**“Would you prefer a more indirect approach? We could beat around the bush a little.”**

“N- No… But we haven’t- I mean it’s mostly been you… y’know… doing it to me…” 

**“Doing it to you? Why the euphemism? Just say ‘fucking’, Eddie. You say that word all the time anyway.”**

“You are too much of a dom, V. How would, uh, how would it even look, anyway? Err… me fucking you?” 

**“We could show you.”**

His other stood him up and led him to their bed. They could still hear the other couple in the other apartment, and in fact, it was even louder in here. 

“Think we might ruin their fun if we start-?” 

**“Shy, Eddie?”**

“I am not!”, he retorted, blowing air, “Well, fair is fair, I guess.” 

He felt the tendrils undress him with incredible efficiency, and in less than a minute, he was standing naked before his bed. The monkey hopped onto the bed. 

“I am _not_ fucking a monkey, by the way.” 

**“Fine.”**

The monkey morphed and grew into the full seven and a half foot tall humanoid, with ripped black muscles, veined white. The crescent killer eyes glared him down with that shark grin. The pecs were well defined, with eight pack abs beneath. Venom’s arms and thighs were massive. The alien was even more muscular than Eddie. Between those muscled black thighs, splayed open, was something that resembled a vagina. It had teeth. 

“Wha- what the fuck is that, V?!?” 

**“It’s a vagina.”**

“It has teeth! Is it gonna bite my dick off?!” 

**“The teeth are just for show. They will not bite your dick off.”**

“I wasn’t- I wasn’t expecting you to look so… masculine… and have a vagina... with teeth. Geez.” 

**“This is our full form, give or take some minor anatomical adjustments. You do not like the way we look, Eddie?”**

“No! No. I mean, yes! I mean, no, I didn’t say that. Okay, we can- we can make this work?” 

He slowly climbed on top of his lover. He ran his hands over the silky, muscled pecs, and dug his fingers into the rubbery material a bit, causing it to ripple. Venom purred like a ferocious lion, baring his fangs and licking them seductively with that ridiculous pink tongue. The vagina seemed to open up also, with matching fangs. Just to make sure, Eddie stuck his finger inside first. The teeth did not scratch him, after all. 

**“Now for your real cock.”**

“Whew. I love you, V, but I’m having a bit of trouble getting it up. You are just too wild for me, sometimes, you gotta know that, right?” 

**“We got you.”**

His flaccid penis started filling up from the inside unnaturally, and in a few seconds, it was rock hard, like alien viagra. Eddie slowly stuck his penis into Venom’s toothy vagina. 

“Wow”, he exhaled when it was all the way in. 

The vagina started sucking the cock further into itself. It was throbbing and rotating, and even licking somehow, causing him to gasp.

“Never had a vagina do that to me before.” 

They could still hear the other couple going in the other apartment. The skinny kid hadn’t looked like he would have much stamina, but Eddie remembered what it was like being in his early 20s. Not that he was too shabby now, and this was his chance to prove it. 

“Does this make me gay? I don’t even-” 

**“Enough with these juvenile distinctions. We are in a whole different category of our own, Eddie.”**

He rocked back slightly, and then plunged his cock back into his lover, and Venom roared loudly like a jungle cat. It was almost frightening. The sounds coming from the other apartment seemed to stop entirely for a moment in response. After a few seconds though, they started up again, gasping even more loudly. Eddie grinned.

“Let’s get this show on the road.” 

The alien goo was leaving his penis, and he felt his own blood rush in to replace it. He dug his fingers deeper into his lover’s chest for leverage and began pumping his hips back and forth. 

**“Eddie! Fuck us, fuck all of us! Splice with our DNA!”**

“Oh yeah, V, I love your weird ass alien talk. Let me teach you a thing or two about human anatomy. This massive thing down here, is called my baby maker.” 

They fucked loudly, as _they_ fucked loudly. Through the walls, Ramona was moaning like an opera singer, while Pietro shouted lewd slurs in drawl. 

“I wanna break you, V”, he grunted, “I wanna break you into two pieces.” 

**“Yes, master! Use us! Use us for your animal pleasure!”**

Both couples seemed to be growing louder by the minute. It was as if it was a yelling competition to see which couple could outdo the other. Gasps of pleasure turned to laughter on both ends, as everyone realized how ridiculous the situation was. 

After twenty minutes, Eddie moaned loudly and released his goo into the goo, but then he kept going. 

**“Yeeeesssss! Hungry, Eddie! Feed us! Feed us your juices!”**

Venom had learned how to shorten the refractory period so that Eddie could keep on going afterward. Eventually, the other couple across the hall ended their game, but Eddie and his bodymate kept it up for two more rounds. 

By the end, he collapsed beside his lover on the bed, panting and sweating. Venom turned away to allow Eddie to snuggle up to his muscled back as the big spoon. 

“How was that for a change, babe?” 

**“It was so good, master. You are always so good.”**

It was customary that after a good fucking, the top would spoon the bottom to help them feel appreciated. 

* 

A couple of days later, they had arranged a small travel pack with the essentials they would need for the month. Eddie had mailed his suit and tie ahead to Virginia, which would arrive a few days before the wedding, so that they wouldn’t have to carry it during their road trip, or buy a new suit when they got there. 

“We got everything, right?” 

**“Checked, double checked, and triple checked. Yes, we got everything.”**

His bodymate handed him the keys to The Venomizer. He had quite the itinerary planned out. Eddie didn’t really like planning too heavily for these kinds of things as he usually preferred to just wing it, and let life surprise him. However, for his alien other, he wanted to show him the very best that his planet had to offer, so he had put in the effort. 

“Whew. Okay. Well, just one more thing then before we head out.” 

Eddie dialled the number into his phone, and waited as the tone rang. The old number was predictably no longer in service, so he had needed to do a bit of sleuthing, and make some random calls here and there. Eventually, he had found the number he needed, which was still a New York number, one of their planned stops. 

The tone was ringing, stretching out the wait, and heightening his nervousness. However, he knew it was the right choice. 

_Never too late._

It picked up. The voice that answered was raspy with age, but it was unmistakeable. 

“Hello? Who is this?”, the man asked. 

“Hi dad. It’s me, Eddie.” 

* 

The surrounding rock cliffs were multi-colored sediment layers in shades of red, brown, orange and yellow, just like the evening sky. Colored layer over different colored layer, the mountains surrounded the massive negative space of the valley. Deep down below in the floor of the Grand Canyon, a winding river twisted through. The sparse tiny looking trees near its banks offered some points of reference as to how massive in scale the Natural Wonder really was. 

Standing several safe yards away from the cliff edge, Eddie aimed his phone, snapping a few photos of the scene. Once they got better signal, he would be sure to show them to Anne. 

It was the off-season, and they had hiked a long way to a more secluded, and humanly inaccessible part of the national park so that Venom could come out too, and enjoy the sight with him. The alien had drove his body, doing all of the rock climbing Eddie had been too squeamish to even watch. 

His other was currently a black falcon, whose massive slimy wingspan was wrapped around his black leather jacket in a black camouflaged hug, and his beak was gently nibbling his ear. 

Eddie reached up to pet his falcon. Spinning around, he aimed the camera to take a selfie with his lover, with the canyon in the background. He made stupid faces, sticking his long tongue out, and showing off his fangs, while Venom morphed through the other kinds of birds in the area like hawks, owls, and vultures. The alien bird put its inappropriately long tongue out to loop around the evening sun. 

“This was so worth it, coming here. It definitely looks better in person than from those pictures online.” 

He put away his phone into his jean pocket, and inhaled the fresh, open air. A soft valley breeze was blowing up from the cliff, making whirring sounds as it continued its slow work of eroding and shaping the hard rock. 

**“Let’s piss off the edge of the cliff. Might be fun.”**

Eddie paused, frowning. 

“Nah, I’m good…” 

**“Eddie. What was the point of coming here to this geological marvel of Earth’s topology if we are not going to experience it fully? We can latch onto those rocks.”**

Tentacles lashed out and tied themselves around two jutting rock formations near the cliff edge. His breath hitched for a moment, bracing himself in case his lover thought it would be a funny idea to fling him in that direction, but no such thing happened. 

Eddie knew that those tentacles could hold him and that if it came down to it, he would trust his life with Venom’s tentacles more than he would any kind of rope climbing equipment. However, the nerves were paralysing. 

“I can’t, okay? I just can’t”, he sighed, “What’s wrong with the view from here? It’s still pretty amazing. Isn’t that good enough?” 

**“We faced our worst fear for you. Fire. Comparatively, heights are significantly less dangerous. If you do this for us, we will give you a nice reward later.”**

Eddie exhaled slowly. What did Venom mean by ‘a nice reward’? Was Eddie some sort of dog? Still, he wanted his other to be happy, and he did promise to show him the world. 

“Ugh, fine. I- I’ll do it. For you”, he conceded, “But this reward better be fucking good.” 

**“Or a good fucking?”**

Eddie chuckled. It was enough to give him some courage. He inched slowly towards the cliff edge, dragging his shoe soles along the rock, kicking at the pebbles. With every dragged step, his heart beat faster, and a knot formed in his gut with the impending vertigo. Stepping in between the two jutting rock formations, he pulled on the tentacles on either side to make sure they really were securely attached to them. There was some give, so it was hard to tell, but from experience and memory, he knew that his alien was reliable. 

He took one last step forward, putting himself about three feet from the sheer cliff drop. It was necessary to look down to ensure he had good footing, but it also forced him to recognize the deathly abyss that lay just in front of him. His hands were shaking. 

“I’m gonna have, uh, trouble taking a piss like this… I’m scared shitless. How long do I have to stand here?” 

**“You didn’t seem to have a problem back then on the bridge. And we have noticed that you’ve talked to Anne about that. We are proud of you, Eddie.”**

“Geez. This was supposed to be romantic. Now you got me down.” 

**“No, Eddie. If we wanted to get you down, we would do this…”**

He felt a hard shove from behind, and he tumbled over the cliff edge, falling… 

Falling. 

Falling. 

He stopped mid-air, screaming, bungeeing freely from his tentacle appendages, flailing wildly side to side. 

**“We got you.”**

His arms were instinctively reaching out, trying to grab something, _anything_ , to hold onto, but there was nothing, nothing but air. 

“This is not funny, V!”, he panted loudly, “Let me down, right now!” 

**“Let you down? Are you sure?”**

“NO! I mean up! Let me up, goddamnit!” 

Eddie’s breathing had quickened to hyperventilation, and he could feel warm moisture building around his pants. He felt his bodymate slow down his heart rate and breathing from within, unnaturally. Opening his eyes, he looked down at himself, but immediately regretted the vertical view, and scrunched them shut again. 

“I’ve wet myself. This is your fault.” 

**“Well, that is not exactly what we had in mind when we said to piss off the edge of the cliff.”**

“Okay you had your laugh, V. I’m done though. New York.” 

**“We are not laughing. And that only applies in an official play session, but there is no sex occurring at the moment. You still have all of your clothes on.”**

“I don’t wanna die. Okay? I don’t… _God!_ I was so stupid back then! So stupid!” 

**“Good. We want you to appreciate your own life as much as we do.”**

“Oh Jesus… I don’t know if that should make me feel good, or if I should be angry. I mean, this is going too far.” 

**“More like, going over the edge. Speaking of edging…”**

“Not in the mood for jokes…” 

**“But perhaps you are in the mood for this?”**

Tentacles loosened his belt, and unzipped his fly. They reached into his soaked boxers and pulled his hard, damp cock free into the open air. When did he get an erection? Or better question: _why_ did he get one? 

The tentacles started stroking. The absolute terror of being suspended a mile up in the air quickly turned into exhilarating arousal as the feeling poured itself into the jutting rock formation between his legs. His eyes were still scrunched closed, but suddenly he felt his other force them open, forcing him to behold the panorama beneath him. 

Tears trickled down his face. The sight was breathtaking, both because it was utterly terrifying, but also because it was unbelievably beautiful. It was enough to send him close to the edge, no pun intended. 

**“Careful, Eddie. If you orgasm, we will feel it, and we might come undone and lose coherence.”**

“Oh, what the fuck did you just say?! Get me the hell back up, now!” 

The tendrils stroked even harder. He felt a thick tentacle slide up his jeans, up his inner thigh, and press against his rectum. It didn’t even go in, but it was too much. All of it was too much all at once. 

“No, wait!”, he cried, trying to hold back, but he fell tumbling over that familiar precipice. 

He came hard, delivering his fertile payload to the Earthly womb below. 

His eyes couldn’t close so he was forced to watch the canyon vista as the wash of pleasure caused him to lose all sense of spatial orientation. Looking downward, the valley floor seemed no different than a far away wall. The vertigo disappeared. The only direction that mattered was the forward propulsion of his man juice, releasing him from his genital burden. All of his muscles convulsed wildly in ecstasy and panic for several seconds, before finally hanging limp in his gooey bungee restraints, surrendering and trusting his alien lover to hold him safe. Of course, he did. 

After several moments of just hanging there loosely in the post-orgasmic bliss, gently swinging side to side with the gentle breeze, he realized that he was not afraid anymore. 

_No way…_

It was impossible, yet it appeared to be so. It seemed that, somehow, Venom had actually cured him of his fear of heights. 

**“Like we said, Eddie: We got you.”**

Eddie couldn’t help but let out thick, hysterical laughter, so loud it must have echoed across the whole canyon. His alien lover was insane, literally bat-shit insane. And he wouldn’t have it any other way. Eddie smiled wide with his signature toothy grin. 

“You always do.” 

*** 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wowza, it's done! I hope you enjoyed this fic! I may return to this some day (lord knows my mind is still swimming with ideas), but for now, this series is concluded!


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